


Star Wars Drabbles, Part I

by mneiai



Series: mneiai's Star Wars drabbles [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Jedi Apprentice Series - Jude Watson & Dave Wolverton, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Ambassador Jango Fett, Angst, Anti-clone prejudice, Arkanis (Star Wars), BAMF Obi-Wan Kenobi, Canon-Typical Violence, Competence Kink, Cuy'val Dar, Dark, Disaster Lineage, Drabble Collection, F/M, Gen, Gray Jedi, Humor, Hurt Obi-Wan Kenobi, I'm not going to rest until everyone else loves Tyvokka as much as I do, Integration AU, Jealousy, M/M, Mand'alor Jango Fett, Mandalore, Mandalorian Empire, Mandalorian Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mando'a, Melida/Daan, Not Beta Read, Order 66, Past Relationship(s), Porn scenario, Possessive Anakin Skywalker, Possessive Behavior, Qui-Gon is Not Obi-Wan's Master, Senator Obi-Wan Kenobi, Shadow Obi-Wan Kenobi, Sithspawn, Sithspawn Stewjoni, Slavery, Trans Obi-Wan Kenobi, Warning: Pre Viszla Had Sex At Least Once, Werewolves, jedi lineage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:21:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 50
Words: 42,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25161553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mneiai/pseuds/mneiai
Summary: A collection of Star Wars drabbles.Mostly Obi-Wan centric AUs.Character and/or Ship and universe in the chapter titles. First chapter an index of the fics.
Relationships: Abeloth & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Alpha-17 & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Alpha-17/Darth Maul, Alpha-17/Obi-Wan Kenobi, CC-1010 | Fox/Obi-Wan Kenobi, CC-2224 | Cody & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Dooku & Xanatos (Star Wars), Jango Fett/Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jar Jar Binks/Jango Fett/Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Nield, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Xanatos, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Sheev Palpatine, Tholme/Obi-Wan Kenobi
Series: mneiai's Star Wars drabbles [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1934179
Comments: 1142
Kudos: 1751
Collections: Anything But Qui-Gon





	1. Index

**Author's Note:**

> I have a few ideas for fics floating around in my head as I write Everybody Needs Luck and some of them want to be more than just ideas jotted down in a note.
> 
> I am not taking unsolicited drabble requests and will generally delete any comments that are requests.
> 
> For those unfamiliar with my drabble collections--I cut individual works off at 50 chapters, so as not to make the tags ridiculously long, and if I get to 50+ drabbles for this I'll just start a new work in a series.

Index of Drabbles by Chapter:

Chapter 2: Former Jedi Obi-Wan feels Order 66. Jango/Obi. Dark AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Jango

Chapter 3: Anakin falls and Obi-Wan flees. Obi-Wan Gen. Integration AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Jango

Chapter 4: Dooku finally found a way to get Obi-Wan to leave the Jedi. Obi-Wan & Nield Gen. Separatist AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Nield, Dooku

Chapter 5: Obi-Wan is not a Jedi, but he'll protect younglings regardless of what side he's on. Gen. Grey Jedi AU  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Anakin

Chapter 6: The HoloNet loves drama and family drama is particularly juicy. (Kinda Dooku & Obi-Wan)  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Yoda, Mace, Dooku

Chapter 7: The first call Obi-Wan made after being given the title of General was to Nield. Nield & Obi-Wan Gen. Clone Wars AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Nield

Chapter 8: The slow build of the war between the Separatists and the Republic split the Jedi apart. Obi-Wan Gen. Attack of the Clones AU  
Characters: Obi-Wan

Chapter 9: At first, Obi-Wan's soulmark looked like a lightsaber. Jango/Obi-Wan. Soulmate AU.  
Characters: Jango, Obi-Wan

Chapter 10: When the beginnings of a clone army are discovered, the Republic turns against the Jedi who must have commissioned an army to take control. Obi-Wan/Satine. AU.  
Characters: Satine, Obi-Wan

Chapter 11: Obi-Wan flees possible execution for using the Dark against Maul and stumbles into something even bigger. Obi-Wan Gen. Fell on Naboo AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Jango

Chapter 12: Obi-Wan makes an announcement before the final fight with Grievous.. Cody & Obi-Wan. Order 66 AU.  
Characters: Cody, Obi-Wan

Chapter 13: Mandalorians and Jedi don't mix, but when Obi-Wan's visions are too horrific for his parents to counter, he is given into the Temple's care. Obi-Wan Gen. Mandalorian!Obi-Wan.  
Characters: Obi-Wan

Chapter 14: "See your first Padawan there?" Qui-Gon joked beside him, studying the group of toddlers. Xanatos & Obi-Wan. Time Travel AU.  
Characters: Xanatos, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Dooku, Anakin

Chapter 15: Obi-Wan became addicted to the feeling of being fed off of while on his Mandalore mission and now he's desperate for a fix. Jango/Obi-Wan. Vampire AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Jango

Chapter 16: Obi-Wan didn't know much, but he did know this: The broken man next to him was a Mandalorian. And Mandalorians were dangerous people. Gen. Bandomeer AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Jango

Chapter 17: Obi-Wan finally decides to see if Palpatine is as much of an ally as Anakin insists he is. Palpatine/Obi-Wan. Late Clone Wars AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Palpatine, Cody, Anakin

Chapter 18: Obi-Wan is assigned to the team of negotiators to work out a treaty with the new Mand'alor. It takes far longer than expected. Jango/Obi-Wan. Mand'alor Jango AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Jango

Chapter 19: Jango's cousin was given to the Jedi and he'd been helpless to save him. Jango & Obi-Wan. Mandalorian Obi-Wan AU (sequel to chapter 13)  
Characters: Jango, Obi-Wan, Boba

Chapter 20: They said nothing forged a soulbond like a shared experience. Obi-Wan Kenobi/Alpha-17. Soulmate AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Alpha-17

Chapter 21: "You want me to commit treason." Jango/Obi-Wan. Jango survived Geonosis AU.  
Characters: Jango, Obi-Wan

Chapter 22: "This isn't exactly what I had in mind." Jango/Obi-Wan (Geonosis AU)  
Characters: Jango, Obi-Wan

Chapter 23: "I know you know how to handle that kind of free fall." Jango & Obi-Wan (random AU)  
Characters: Jango, Obi-Wan

Chapter 24: After ten years of facing the Mand'alor on the battlefield, Obi-Wan is at his mercy. Jango/Obi-Wan. Mandalorian Empire AU.  
Characters: Jango, Obi-Wan

Chapter 25: Obi-Wan will always be a thorn in the Siths' sides, no matter how much flimsywork they force on him. Obi-Wan Gen. Arkanis Instructor AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, the Grand Inquisitor

Chapter 26: Obi-Wan never thought he'd see Jango's face and isn't pleased at how he does. Jango/Obi-Wan. The Way AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Jango

Chapter 27: Anakin just wants his two best friends to be happy. Anakin POV. Palpatine/Obi-Wan.  
Characters: Anakin, Palpatine, Obi-Wan, Padme

Chapter 28: Obi-Wan's mission was supposed to be straightforward. Jango/Obi-Wan. Shadow AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Jango

Chapter 29: Dooku new what Obi-Wan was and decided to share that with at least one of his allies. Obi-Wan Gen. Sithspawn!Stewjoni AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Jango

Chapter 30: When Obi-Wan agreed to a political marriage with the Chancellor, he didn't think he'd end up with an Emperor, instead. Palpatine/Obi-Wan. Marriage AU.  
Characters: Palpatine, Obi-Wan, Anakin

Chapter 31: Obi-Wan and a team of other Knights investigate a recently found station. Obi-Wan & Abeloth. Sithspawn!Stewjoni AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Abeloth

Chapter 32: After a rough, draining mission, Obi-Wan and Anakin visit Stewjon. Obi-Wan & Anakin & OC. Sithspawn!Stewjoni AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Anakin, OC

Chapter 33: Obi-Wan gets a tour and meets some people he would have really rather left in the past. Past Pre/Obi-Wan, past Satine/Obi-Wan. Kamino AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Jango, Reau, Priest

Chapter 34: Alpha-17 was nothing but a lesser copy of Jango, there was no reason for Kenobi to prefer him. One-sided Jango/Obi-Wan. Alpha-17/Obi-Wan established.  
Characters: Jango, Obi-Wan, Alpha-17

Chapter 35: Jango's mind stalled for a moment, thinking of all of the Holonet jokes that were made about this exact scenario. Jango/Obi-Wan. Kamino Meeting AU.  
Characters: Jango, Obi-Wan

Chapter 36: The clones were a trap for the Sith as much as they were for the Jedi. Alpha-17/Obi-Wan. Jango lives AU.  
Characters: Alpha-17, Obi-Wan

Chapter 37: Kenobi has always been the best of the Jedi generals, Alpha-17 finds out why. Alpha-17 & Obi-Wan. Gen.  
Characters: Alpha-17, Obi-Wan

Chapter 38: There was no limit to the anger he could feel, to the hatred he could hold in his heart. Alpha-17 & Obi-Wan. Sith!Alpha.  
Characters: Alpha-17

Chapter 39: Stewjoni eyes are a little different than human ones. Obi-Wan and Taun We Gen. Sithspawn!Stewjoni verse.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Taun We, Anakin, Padme

Chapter 40: On some nights, outsiders on Mandalore should stay indoors. Obi-Wan Gen. Werewolf AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Satine

Chapter 41: Fox has a competence kink. Fox/Obi-Wan. PenPal AU.  
Characters: Fox, Obi-Wan

Chapter 42: Obi-Wan's not above taking advantage of a situation to get what he wants. Tholme/Obi-Wan  
Characters: Tholme, Obi-Wan

Chapter 43: The result of Anakin's secret marriage. Mace/Obi-Wan. Marriage AU.  
Characters: Mace, Obi-Wan, Anakin

Chapter 44: Obi-Wan and Anakin are captured on a mission. Obi-Wan & Anakin. Sithspawn!Stewjoni AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Anakin

Chapter 45: The Council keeps trying to assign Obi-Wan a new Padawan. Anakin & Obi-Wan. Dark!Anakin.  
Characters: Anakin

Chapter 46: A Mandalorian's armor is a part of their soul. And, if they're lucky enough to have a soulmate, a reflection of the other half of their soul. Jango/Obi-Wan. Soulmate AU.  
Characters: Jango, Obi-Wan

Chapter 47: Jango has an unusual stowaway. Jango/Obi-Wan. Mandalorian Empire/spy AU.  
Characters: Jango, Obi-Wan, Myles

Chapter 48: Senator Binks and Obi-Wan duck into the worst-best room during an attack on the Senate. Politician AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Jar Jar, Jango

Chapter 49: Obi-Wan as a Padawan and with a Padawan. Obi-Wan & Anakin. Sithspawn!Stewjoni AU.  
Characters: Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon Jinn, Anakin Skywalker

Chapter 50: Alpha-17 finds out about Obi-Wan's archenemy. Alpha-17/Maul(/Obi-Wan). Mandalore Arc AU.  
Characters: Alpha-17, Darth Maul


	2. Jango/Obi (Dark AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Former Jedi Obi-Wan feels Order 66.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was reading through some Wookiepedia pages as I researched for Everybody Needs Luck and this came to me.

The Force screamed.

Obi-Wan, unprepared, froze in the middle of his sentence, giving a full body shudder. Even as he locked down his shields, bolstered himself against whatever it was that was coming on instinct, he knew it wasn't enough.

When the wave of grief-fear-anguish-betrayal-death-death-death hit him, he collapsed to the cold stone floor of the throne room. Around him people moved, as if that was a sign.

Above him, somewhere, Jango sighed. "That _kyorla darjetii_ said he'd give me warning."

It took a moment for Obi-Wan to register the words, barely noticing them through the death-death-death of the Jedi, of the _Light_. Jango knelt beside him, picking him up from the floor and holding him close.

"Shh, relax, I've got you. You were supposed to be behind a containment field when the _darjetiise_ gave the order, to block out the worst of this."

As if anything could have blocked out the death of the entire Jedi Order--the buckling of the universe at the sudden loss. And the way the Dark filled in all the gaps, soaking up the horror of what had happened and growing across the Galaxy.

"I hate you," Obi-Wan rasped, mouth barely able to form the words.

Jango chuckled against the back of his neck, a vicious edge to the sound he used to love. "It's things like that that got you kicked out, _cyar'ika_."

That set Obi-Wan off, struggling weakly against the hold Jango kept on him, flailing, slapping at his armor, trying to get at his exposed head. Jango rode it out, shifting and adjusting his hold, until Obi-Wan exhausted himself.

"This was what you were planning, all along."

" _Lek_ , but you knew that, didn't you?" He nuzzled the side of Obi-Wan's head, one hand loosening its grip enough to stroke over his flank. "You came to me when they cast you out, you wanted to be surrounded by people who would never speak against your resentment."

Obi-Wan wanted to deny it, but it was true. When they'd cast him aside for just dipping, so slightly, into the Dark, he'd wanted nothing more than to be around people who disliked the Order. He hadn't meant to grow so close to the Mand'alor, hadn't thought he'd return any of an ex-Jedi's feelings.

If he had. "Did you want me here to watch a Jedi suffer through this in person?"

Jango all but growled, twisting them around until Obi-Wan was lying down with his back on the floor, Jango over him, pinning him. Their faces were only a few inches apart, eyes meeting.

"You are no _jetii, ner'Ob'ika_. You liked showing us that, swore the _Resol'nare_ for me, _to_ me." His shields barely able to function after such a beating, Obi-Wan could feel every trace of possessiveness in Jango's thoughts. "You're safe here, _cyar'ika_ , the _darjetiise_ are _neruda_ , and will be far too busy with the Republic to move against us."

All the plans he'd heard of, overheard, suddenly made sense to Obi-Wan. Even his timing in taking back Mandalore. The Republic wouldn't have left him to consolidate power, but if they were now at war with the Sith, they'd have no resources to move against him.

And Obi-Wan would have no choice but to watch everything unfold, trapped by the Mand'alor's love.

***  
Mandalorian words from [mandoa.org](http://mandoa.org/):

kyorla darjetti - rotten Sith

Cyar'ika - sweetheart

Lek - casual 'yes', like 'yeah'

ner'Obika - My Obi (dimunitative) 

neruda - enemy's enemy, or temporary ally


	3. Obi-Wan Gen (Integration AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin falls and Obi-Wan flees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by [Integration](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11920878) by [Millberry_5](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Millberry_5/pseuds/Millberry_5).
> 
> I wrote this on my phone when the idea struck me. I’ve been reading another Integration AU AU, [Stand Against the Tide](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24361414), and some Sith!Anakin fics, and trying to make a Doctor Sleep/Star Wars crossover idea work in my head and thought up this and wanted to get it out. Originally posted it on my Tumblr, but someone mentioned it on my last chapter in here and I thought I'd put it here, too.
> 
> Obi-Wan POV, if I continue it would, of course, be Jango/Obi-Wan. And would have some past Xanatos/Obi-Wan, probably. Don't know if I'll continue, though.

There were only two real options if he were to defect from the Republic. Obi-Wan knew now that one was not, in truth, something he could do.

(On the battlefield he hadn’t realized that-–seeing Anakin’s eyes, watching him choose Xanatos over the Order, and if Mace hadn’t dragged Obi-Wan away, he’d be there now, Falling just to stay with his Padawan.)

He packed only his civilian gear, not that he had much. There were a few trinkets he decided to bring, if he were no longer a Jedi no one could criticize his attachments, but most he would leave behind. He didn’t know what he could keep, didn’t want to risk anything being destroyed. Left here, they’d be distributed among his (few) remaining friends or put to good use by the Initiates.

He wiped and then broke his Council issued datapad. Then his backup. His personal one and that backup, too, leaving them on the counter in his living space, wanting nothing more than to leave that desolate set of rooms behind but knowing he had to take his time as he spent hours sitting there, going through files, and programs, and viruses.

(He had one other datapad, a secret backup he’d kept this whole time for security reasons. He packed it, only wiping those things that might hurt the people innocent in all of this, disliking that he felt the need for it, but wanting a bribe on top of his physical self.)

Going to Dex’s wasn’t abnormal, he’d gone there often enough when he’d been planetside. Even going with a bag wasn’t an immediate sign of worry for the Jedi and guards he saw on his way out.

Somehow it was Dex who took one look at him and knew. Who took the bag to store for later as if he’d been expecting something from Obi-Wan and made small talk as his own pad filled with rapidly disappearing directions just in Obi-Wan’s view. He’d been surprised when the carefully coded smalltalk indicated where Obi-Wan was going, but he made no effort to talk him out of it.

(He’d wonder later if Dex had known this was coming, had seen the stress fractures in Anakin, in Obi-Wan, and already had a plan for each of them. It hurt to think that maybe he’d had a plan for BOTH of them and if only Obi-Wan had been a better Master….)

All of that was how Obi-Wan came out of hyperspace in a small craft maybe capable of one more jump before falling apart. The coordinates had been perfect, he was right outside a Mandalorian base where the Republic had never managed to place a spy. He immediately opened comms, issued his surrender, and landed exactly where and as he was told.

He kept his hands in the air as he walked out, kneeling at the bottom of the ramp into the ship, ignoring the thrill of warning in the Force at the guns pointed at him.

One person in beskar'gam approached out of the group, the air of authority around him immediately catching Obi-Wan’s attention. He was nearly impossible to read in the Force, as so many of the best trained Mandalorians were, but Obi-Wan didn’t get any sense of incoming violence from him.

“Obi-Wan Kenobi is defecting?” he scoffed, Obi-Wan feeling the glare through the visor.

His heavy mission schedule had given him a high profile, high enough to be recognizable. He didn’t know yet if that was a good thing or not.

“From what I heard, it shouldn’t matter to you whether I’m sincere or not, now that you have me.”

(He knew they brainwashed captives, it was a common refrain in the war propaganda that actually held true, unlike his missions being twisted into acts of selfless heroism instead of horror. He’d be a fool not to fear the Mandalorian program, fear losing himself, but he’d decided it was better than a Fall, better than allowing the Dark to devour him.)

The Mandalorian stalked around him, studying him, and then stopped closer than Obi-Wan would have expected he’d get. If this took much longer, he’d get a sore neck from having to look up.

“Why?”

Even knowing the question was inevitable, having prepared for it for days, Obi-Wan still ached as he replied, “My Padawan Fell. It wasn’t just the Sith who drove him to that point,” more than enough Sith had always been there, attempting to seduce Obi-Wan away from the Light, that he knew that. “The Council ignored me when I begged them to give him a break from missions, ignored me before when I begged to stay with him when he was younger and I was sent out more than most. He felt removed from the others his age, felt adrift at the Temple.” Being the Chosen One was too heavy a burden for a child, a teenager. “He…he was taken from his mother too old and knew what life he was missing.”

(They had been slaves, but with the resources of the Republic it would have been simple to free the mother with the son. What Qui-Gon had been thinking, Obi-Wan still doesn’t know, and a sinking place inside of him worried the entire point was to make Anakin so dependent. But Obi-Wan didn’t have any authority, couldn’t be there for Anakin when no one else was as a brand new Knight.)

“They kept you from your _ad_ and you lost him to the _darjetiise_ ,” the Mandalorian summarized, but now Obi-Wan could sense the slightest traces of sympathy from him, his story believed.

He was relieved. He had thought they’d know, if the Jedi had sent a spy, they would have sent a Shadow, not a diplomat and general. And they wouldn’t have risked a story that the Mandalorians could confirm, with their current tentative (always temporary) truce with the Sith.

“…Yes.”

The man held out his arm to the side and another armored figure came forward, placing a hypo into it. “Why didn’t you go to the _darjetiise_ , if he’s there?”

“The boy I raised is gone. Falling alongside him wouldn’t bring him back to me.” Obi-Wan’s calm facade collapsed for a moment, grief making his breath catch.

(As much as Falling didn’t have to lead to becoming a Sith, he knew that wasn’t true for Anakin. He hadn’t just Fallen randomly, he’d been communicating with the Sith somehow, had been learning their ways. There wasn’t any coming back from that.)

He tilted his head to the side, giving a clear path for the hypo. All of his agonizing over this moment was over, all he could do now was try to build something new, away from the reminders of his failures and the people who failed him and Anakin.


	4. Obi-Wan & Nield (Separatist AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dooku finally found a way to get Obi-Wan to leave the Jedi.

The intel they had was shaky, at best, and Obi-Wan easily split up with his troopers (despite their protests) as they worked their ways through different wings of the complex.

When he entered one of the disused hangers and found a table surrounded by familiar people, every Force sensitive nearby must have registered his shock.

Nothing had indicated Dooku and many of the other Separatist leaders would be on this planet. Or that they'd be meeting with multiple rulers of Outer Rim planets they'd yet to annex.

Or that one of them would be someone Obi-Wan actually cared about.

" _Nield_." He could tell most of his enemies were surprised at his focus, had most likely expected to a fight from him as he called for reinforcements. "What are you doing?!"

Even though he was older, even though they'd only seen each other in brief holos over the years, he would never forget him. Even the Force thrummed in interest at their reunion, pulling Obi-Wan's attention towards Nield as though he was caught in the currents of an undertow.

For his part, Nield did look momentarily bashful, before the mask he wore as Governor of Melida/Daan fell back in place. "You know I have no love for the Senate, Obi-Wan."

"You'd bring ou--your people back into a war? Cerasi would never have--"

"Cerasi is gone, if she wasn't, she would have been enough for you to stay." 

Obi-Wan almost flinched, even though Nield's tone was mild. He glanced around at their fascinated audience, catching Dooku's expression, and felt rage flicker through him.

"Is this because I wouldn't join you? You're punishing me now for--"

"Obi-Wan," Nield's strained tone drew his attention fully. "Why wouldn't you join him?"

Stiffening, having a hard time keeping the scowl off his face (he felt like he was thirteen again, but in the opposite position, raging as Nield tried to find reason). "I am a Jedi, I serve the Republic, how is that even a question?"

"Serve them even if it means going to war again? Ordering child soldiers to their deaths, again."

He rocked back, gripping onto a nearby railing, as fire-death-screams filled his memory for an instant before he could regain his composure. "I'm trying to _stop_ the war, the war Dooku started."

"And you know why I did that, grandpadawan."

Swallowing down a hysterical laugh that tried to bubble up his throat, Obi-Wan stepped closer to Nield, searching his face, his presence. "I don't want to fight you, not any of you."

"Then don't. You shouldn't have ever had to leave, you should have never gone back to them. I know they didn't treat you any better after you returned."

"You know I can't."

"Because they care for you so much?" Obi-Wan did flinch, that time. "Do you remember what Cerasi would say about that? Her father told her what was right, and he was always wrong. What does it matter, he'd say, if thousands die, or millions die? The sky is still blue overhead. And our world still remains. The cause is what's important. And so your Jedi boss tells you what you must do, and you do it. Even though you know he's wrong," Nield finished the quote with a sardonic tone Cerasi would have never managed, "And that is called respect."

Obi-Wan hadn't realized he'd been moving forward, still, not until he stopped right in front of Nield, tilting his head to look up at him. He could feel that missing piece of them where Cerasi should have been, that emptiness inside of him that had lasted twenty years, that would never disappear. 

Tension thrummed through the room and then his comm went off and for a moment it seemed like everyone might draw a weapon and attack.

He raised it towards his lips, eyes still locked with Nield's.

"...The East Wing is clear, I'll finish up here, then meet you back at the ship...."

None of the Vod'e would question him, at least not any of the ones with him now. They would obediently do whatever he said, children brainwashed to follow him, to die for him.

Nield wrapped his arms around Obi-Wan, pulling him into a tight hug. "I don't know what to do," he whispered, knowing he couldn't maintain his expected serenity when the Senate and Council would be talking about retaliating against Melida/Daan for leaving.

"You don't need to do anything," Nield whispered back, soothingly. "If you won't join, they're at least content to have you not fighting against them. All you need to do is come home."

He'd known, seen first hand, how manipulative Dooku could be, but this was more clever than he ever gave him credit for. Losing Obi-Wan would not just be a strategic loss, it would decimate morale across the Republic, even if he didn't suddenly become a Separatist general.

Without Nield around, he could block out the horror of what he was doing, what he was experiencing. He could forget what it was like to try to keep a comforting look on his face as he helped a child strap a suicide vest into place, when he watched an Elder murdering a kid just for speaking out. When he felt how _young_ the clones were in the Force and couldn't save them all, could barely save any some days.

He glared over Nield's shoulder when he felt Dooku trying to sooth his grief-fear-pain in the Force, but couldn't bring himself to tell him to stop. It felt right, standing there in Nield's arms, knowing he could be on Melida/Daan within a few days if he just gave in.

Pulling away, he took a shaky breath, but thought he finally had his expression under control. "Did you sign anything, yet?"

Nield smiled gently, shaking his head. "We were just getting to that part." He set the pad in Obi-Wan's hand before he had to ask.

Beginning to look it over, using the Force to read faster than a human normally could, he spared only a glance towards Dooku and the others with him.

"You're buying a General of the Grand Army of the Republic with this, and I am not cheap."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The quote Nield says is an only slightly changed actual quote from Cerasi in The Defenders of the Dead book in the Jedi Apprentice series.


	5. Obi-Wan Gen (Grey Jedi AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan is not a Jedi, but he'll protect younglings regardless of what side he's on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like the knowledge it's going to take me forever to get to the Jango/Obi stuff in ENL means I'm getting even more ideas for them now lol

"Get out of here," Obi-Wan couldn't bring himself to meet Anakin's eyes, not with the fear running rampant in him and the younglings in his care singing to the Dark Side around him. "This is not fight for a _jetii_."

Then he turned his attention to the Sith moving closer to their location, taking a deep breath to center himself. He knew it was true, that the Light wouldn't be enough, but he still had to hold himself together, to the careful balance he'd been walking since his Fall.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi," a Sith acolyte, whose name Obi-Wan had never bothered learning, hissed in displeasure when she saw him. "Shouldn't you be off playing sextoy to the Mand'alor?"

He gave a sharp smile, letting his eyes shift to gold, the Dark good for making him look more like a predator, like a danger. There was no telling how long it would take Anakin to get out of there with everyone else.

"Jealous, Sithling?"

She sneered. "Why would we be jealous? You could have been great, the Master wanted you so badly. Instead you ran off to some Null's arms."

"Tell me, who do you think is in a better position?" He made a show of looking contemplative. "You, one of many acolytes desperate for your master's attention, hoping that maybe someday you might just get to be his true apprentice for the very small chance you might be able to slay him and take his place." He walked casually around the cavern, shifting their attention from the corridor. "Or I, who simply had to make a single man fall in love with me to become the second most powerful person in his Empire?"

Not that marrying Jango had been easy, not that he wasn't in love with him, too. More, he thought, somedays, weak and vulnerable to his love for Jango in a way the Mand'alor just didn't know how to be.

They didn't need to know any of that. Might even be beyond understanding it.

The acolytes shifted, clearly uncomfortable with the revelation. 

Again, the one in the center took the lead, raising her lightsaber, the eerie red glow reflecting off her pale skin. "When we take you back, you'll realize what true power is at the Master's hands."

Obi-Wan shrugged, lighting his own lightsaber, taking dark pleasure in their stumbling attempts to hide their shock at the Darksaber's haunting blade. He wasn't worried about winning against these three, but he knew he had to kill them to keep the Sith attention away from the Mando'ade. 

He moved with careful precision as they fought, not letting them get a feel for his style. They were Jedi hunters and certainly prepared against them, after all. But he was no Jedi, not anymore, and his would not be a straight forward fight.

After locking blades with one, he pushed off, flipping back with a grin. "Do you know what happens when you bleed a kyber crystal?" his voice was teasing, light, letting them know he thought of this as a game.

"What?" one hissed, possibly more a confused reaction than an actual question.

Obi-Wan sent out the push of Force to the crystal he'd just been close enough to to influence, moving fast to strike at the third Sith as the explosion sounded, and then the screaming, the first Sith's arm and half their torso blown away.

"They grow unstable."

There was fear and pain in the air, now, feeding all of them. Him, most of all, as the target for those emotions. 

He twisted, using his blade to keep the other's locked away from him, barely avoiding the second surviving Sith's strike. Now it was about playing them off each other, working with their hostile, untrusting nature.

It worked well enough, enraging them, making them see the other as getting in the way of their kill. Until the second Sith had pushed down the other to leap at Obi-Wan, unprepared for him to use the force to push himself higher as he flipped over the Sith. And they collapsed, Obi-Wan's small vibroknife lodged in their eye.

"You're wasted on Mandalore," the Sith who had spoken first, and now was the only one of them alive, was changing tactics, worried now. "You haven't immersed yourself in the Dark Side as you could with a master."

"I'm a _genet jetii_ , I use whichever side of the Force suits my purposes."

"You lie to yourself," she scoffed. "You've only used the Dark in this fight. You know it's better, more powerful. The Light is unworthy."

"I know that sometimes blunt force must be met with blunt force." His lips quirk. "But if you insist, my dear."

And this time he does flow into Jedi forms, ones he'd kept up a private study of for all he'd been cut off from the Temples. She's as unprepared for that as they had been for any of his other surprises, faltering even though her own favored form was made to counter the popular Jedi ones. 

He kills her swiftly, her head rolling into the dark shadows of the cavern. Once he retrieves his knife, only the faintest traces he'd left in the Force might give away who had been there, but not enough to tell anyone if he'd been a fighter or simply observing the Jedi vs the Sith. Anakin's overwhelming presence lingering everywhere he went had always been good at hiding behind.

When he reaches the entrance, he can see the Republic ship lingering, and while a part of him wants to simply slip away he doesn't want Anakin staying around for Sith reinforcements to find.

He gives his former master's Padawan a salute before hurrying to his own, much better concealed, ship. It's a three day journey back to Manda'yaim and he feels needy for Jango's presence to ground him. The Jedi and Sith always did this to him.


	6. Obi-Wan & Dooku Gen (technically)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The HoloNet loves drama and family drama is particularly juicy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love [this tumblr post](https://one-real-imonkey.tumblr.com/post/622114200494407680/honestly-i-love-the-idea-of-jedi-lineages-the) about people finding out about Jedi lineages.

The clip seemed innocent enough, a rare up close look at a battle between The Negotiator and Count Dooku, with clear enough audio that for once those not unlucky enough to be on the battlefield could overhear Obi-Wan Kenobi's clever tongue.

At no point during the initial release of content did anyone think there was anything controversial. But within hours of it hitting the HoloNets of both the Republic and the CIS, the public (or perhaps particularly bored children) had hit upon something no one had thought to tell them:

At some point, after a flurry of parries and thrusts that most viewers have to slow down the recording to view properly, Count Dooku makes a snide remark...calling Kenobi his "grandpadawan."

Perhaps that would have been dismissed, even, except General Kenobi immediately counters derision dripping from his voice, as he calls Dooku "grandmaster."

The HoloNets, of course, went wild. People dug up past references that the two had made and a Corellian Jedi helpfully explained lineages to an eager reporter, not yet aware of _why_ they wanted that information.

***

Obi-Wan came back to Coruscant and was suddenly waylaid. He was used to fans, and reporters, but he was not ready for the heady mix of suspicion in the Force around the group that awaited him. As much as the guards attempted to keep them away, their questions still reached him.

Many of them were, in essence, asking him how they could trust him to fight against his grandfather.

It took him the entire walk into the Temple to realize what they meant and then he froze, just inside the door, eyes wide. The Temple Guards gave nothing away, but he could tell they were watching him.

"As if everyone didn't know my lineage was karked," he muttered, striding towards the Council chambers, hoping for answers.

He was met the long-suffering looks of Masters who did not want to be dealing with anymore drama.

"Temporary leave, asked to give you were we by the Senate," Yoda finally said.

"You cannot seriously be considering that."

"Appearances we must keep, for this war fought on many fronts it is."

Obi-Wan fought very hard not to glower. "...If he's my grandfather, you're his father."

For a moment, he wondered if it was possible to give Yoda's species a seizure through words, before his great-grandmaster calmed himself. "True, that is, by the definitions have they of our lineages. Yet flaunt it rarely do I."

He clenched his hands where they rested in the sleeve of his robes, trying to center himself in the Force. If it had been just up to him, he might have never even acknowledged his relationship to Dooku. It was the Count who had brought up Qui-Gon, who insisted on using their lineage like another weapon to strike against Obi-Wan.

(As much as Obi-Wan hated to admit it, sometimes he couldn't help but agree that Qui-Gon might have followed Dooku to the Separatists, his distrust of the Senate and hostility towards the Council so great at times.)

"Can we not explain that I barely knew him? That he--he abandoned me after the death of my master?"

For as many looks of contemplation, there were grimaces of denial. "We fear that acknowledging the issue may make it worse," Mace finally said. "The HoloNet will find something else to obsess over soon, we just need to wait it out."

***

Far away from Coruscant, Dooku was dealing with a far more amusing fallout. Of course, he had people who he enlisted to spin propaganda throughout the CIS, something that the Jedi were still very behind on.

When the interest in his relationship to Obi-Wan started, he was immediately informed, and a variety of bots were spun up to work this into a win for him.

The tragic story of how the Jedi Order had kept him separated from his dear grandson, brainwashing the young Knight against him because he dared to leave, became an instant hit. After all, everyone 'knew' that the Jedi manipulated people's minds, was it so hard to imagine they'd do it to one of their own?

Some enterprising PR person had even managed to dig up a few pictures of Obi-Wan on Naboo, looking far more devastated by his master's death ('the only father he'd ever known') than people would expect from a Jedi.

Soon even some of the most anti-Jedi of the CIS planets were clamoring to to "free" "#ObiWanDooku." Sidious seemed exceptionally pleased at Kenobi's apparent forced leave. And Grievous looked moments away from jumping out an airlock. 

Dooku couldn't believe his luck, sometimes.


	7. Obi-Wan & Nield (Clone Wars AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first call Obi-Wan made after being given the title of General was to Nield.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the really great comments! This fandom is soooo nice I can't even. Feel free to come talk to me through asks (messages) or whatever on my tumblrs! [melida-daan](https://melida-daan.tumblr.com) is specifically for melida-daan stuff (Obi-Wan staying on Melida/Daan) and [manyangledone](https://manyangledone.tumblr.com) is my personal.

When he told Nield the details, even over the fuzzy image of the long distance holo he could see the other go pale. He waited, then, as Nield shouted, leaving the frame to throw somethings around his office, before settling back into his seat. The expression on his face was cold and calm, conviction in his eyes, and Obi-Wan's heart ached as he realized that finally he had an ally in this who might _do something_.

They spent weeks on their plans, enlisting more and more of Nield's staff until a distance part of Obi-Wan wondered who was actually running the planet.

Finally, with old laws and older customs on their side, every loophole filled, Senator Nena of Melida/Daan slipped the proper amendment into a bill on provisioning the GAR that no one was paying attention to. Then Nield made his announcement as soon as it passed.

Every clone trooper was given immediate citizenship for Melida/Daan, which had some of the strongest anti-child soldier laws in the galaxy--and the clones, thanks to the amendment, were legally acknowledged as their actual ages, not what they were aged up to.

The Republic went wild, fights breaking out in the Senate, the Holonet bombarded with discussion, the Council holding so many emergency sessions that they barely slept.

Of course, the latter knew who to "blame" for what had happened and Obi-Wan had to exercise every bit of restraint he ever learned dealing with Qui-Gon and Anakin not to explode at them with the accusations he'd been holding in.

Once upon a time it had been surprisingly easy to leave the Jedi Order for Melida/Daan, Obi-Wan found that to still be true.


	8. Obi-Wan Gen (AOTC AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The slow build of the war between the Separatists and the Republic split the Jedi apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a verse where the hit was never put out on Padme and so Obi-Wan never traced the dart to Kamino, never found the clones or droids, etc.

War trickled in slowly. Most people not even noticing that the conflict _had_ devolved into war until the Chancellor stood before the whole of the Senate, on a live broadcast, and declared it. The Senate had erupted into noise, into yelling and even, in a few cases, outright fighting.

The Council itself, let alone the Order, were near as contentious as the Senate. Those who were old enough to remember the last war or, like Obi-Wan, had fought in wars, calling for neutrality-- _demanding_ it. But, eventually, because of the ties to the Senate and the Republic, the Council stated that the Order could not stay neutral.

But, because of the arguments, because of the threats of some even to _leave_ the Order, they also stated that it would be voluntary. That the Jedi could choose to stay and fight for the Republic--or could leave for the Neutral Systems and continue the less bellacose role, there.

For Obi-Wan, it was a horrible decision to make. Anakin had only recently been knighted and he was staying--for the Chancellor, for Padme. For the glory he thought, somehow, he could find in war.

They had never spoken of Melida/Daan, Obi-Wan unable to broach the subject and not wanting either pity or for Anakin to deny how awful the situation was in his eternal hero worship of Qui-Gon. 

He had spoken, once or twice, of Mandalore, especially with Anakin's ever increasing interest in Padme. So that was the excuse he used, not that he thought another war would break him, not that ever since the conflict started he'd been having nightmares of what had happened to the Young. Instead he spoke of Satine, of Mandalore, and Anakin resigned himself to his Master being a little more of a pacifist than he'd thought.

Other Jedi left, _many_ other Jedi, to the point where Obi-Wan thought the Council was debating its offer and would force them to stay. He didn't wait any longer, leaving after a pointed offer to Yoda of contacting his grandmaster and trying to find out what in the world he thought he was doing.

The war was sloppy, awful. Somehow the Jedi had been placed in charge of _clone troopers_ and made generals. Jedi who had no experience for it. It seemed that everyday Satine had to talk him out of going back, if only to try to help people survive.

It spilled over into the Order, the two sides of the Jedi becoming more hostile towards each other. Warmongers, the neutral Jedi called those that stayed. Cowards, the ones who fought called them. Obi-Wan couldn't understand it, it felt almost as though something was influencing them, feeding the conflict, but he could find no source.

When it came the official split, despite all the signs it would happen, still blindsided some of them. Obi-Wan was among that group, having thought they'd resolve the internal conflict, this was their _family_. But the Council had demanded they return, that they fulfill their "duty" to fight in the war, and that could not happen.

Worse, though, wasn't even the split (as reluctantly as Obi-Wan went along with it, sending out coded messages to Anakin hoping his former padawan could forgive him), it was when the fighting started. Suddenly the neutral Jedi weren't just cowards, they were _traitors_. They could no longer risk going into Republican space, or anywhere they might run into a Republican Jedi. 

Satine and the Council of Neutral Systems sheltered them, outraged. They believed that the neutral Jedi had been right, after all. The Republic, the Chancellor, even agreed, though Obi-Wan realized with trepidation that what resulted in _that_ was the people of the Republic turning against the Republican Jedi. Everything the Neutral Jedi had been saying against them was now being said by the very people they were fighting to protect.

He almost wasn't surprised when they apparently betrayed the Senate and tried to assassinate the Chancellor. Especially when Anakin finally managed to get word to him, explaining the plot, the horrible things the Jedi had been doing and planning to do. 

Obi-Wan mourned them, of course he did, but it was more that he was mourning the people they used to be. And while he didn't agree with the Empire that had emerged out of the failed coup, he was hopeful that maybe there could be peace again.


	9. Jango/Obi-Wan (Soulmate AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At first, Obi-Wan's soulmark looked like a lightsaber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a different soulmate concept, obviously, but I'd be remiss not to mention the really awesome series [Fate And Choice](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1691467) by Emrys_Fae, which is three different possibilities around the same soulmate worldbuilding.

At first, Obi-Wan's soulmark looked like a lightsaber. How blessed, they would say to him as a young boy, to have a soulmate he could so easily meet at one of the Temples. And they did try, Masters running errands taking him with them to the other parts of the Order, hoping to find the match ordained for him by the Force.

As he grew older, everyone grew more uncertain--he had been born with his mark, which meant his match already had theirs, and yet he had surpassed the age when Younglings were Initiates and all marks were recorded. That he did not have a match yet was... odd.

When he was ten and his mark finally grew into the color and detail of his match's soul, the horrible truth was revealed: It was only a lightsaber in the most technical of ways--it was, in truth, the Darksaber.

To keep soulmates apart, to disregard such an obvious message from the Force, was a blasphemy for Jedi. And very illegal within the Republic.

The Council still debated what to do, still stalled for an entire year before finally reaching out. Out of caution, they'd claim, but some wondered if it was not truly fear. Not for Obi-Wan's well-being, as the Council claimed, but for what it meant to give his soulmate his connection to the Force.

The Mand'alor was named Jango Fett, Obi-Wan was told by Master Tholme, one of the few people who bothered giving him the truth. He was nine years Obi-Wan's senior and the Order could keep custody of Obi-Wan, under Republic law, until he turned sixteen. Later, Obi-Wan would learn that while that was (barely) legal in the Republic, it was not at all in Mandalore.

And the horror and outrage of finding out that the Jedi were keeping someone's match from them was apparently enough to unite the Mandalorians in a way they hadn't been in a very long time, or at least the factions that weren't the New Mandalorians.

He was nearly thirteen when the Mand'alor of a united Mandalore petitioned the Republic for his soulmate (he was not taught much about Mandalore at the Temple, but he'd done his best to study in private, and figured that the "petition" was probably more of a threat). It led, again, to more "discussion" among the Council and Senate.

The others Initiates had all been focused on finding Masters and becoming Padawans, but Obi-Wan had done his best to avoid being chosen by any of them, hoping that it would be taken as a sign that he should be given over to the other half of his soul.

But no matter how plain and boring he tried to make himself, no matter how hard he tried to hide his power and abilities, the Masters came to him constantly. At first he was flattered and even felt bad about turning them away, but then he realized it was not that they wanted _him_ , it was that the Council feared him going to his match--if he was apprenticed, it would be another loophole they could utilize.

Obi-Wan, who knew better than to trust any Jedi at face value by then, realized that they would never let him leave. They'd keep him in the heart of the Republic, away from the other half of him, hoping that somehow a Mandalorian would be less stubborn than they.

He packed a bag, waited until everyone seemed busy, and allowed the Force to guide him through the lower catacombs of the Temple, out into the streets beyond the carefully guarded compound.

Although he only had the vaguest idea of what he was doing, through holos, and books, and reading reports, he somehow made his way off planet as a stowaway on a large liner, using the Force to keep out of notice of the many people around. He slept in an unused ventilation shaft and stole food from just before it would make its way into the waste disposal system. 

When he slipped away at Corellia, he felt exhausted, and hungry, and filthy, too. 

He didn't know how to actually contact Jango, of course he didn't, but the rebuilding Mandalorian government had plenty of public systems for taking messages. If he was lucky, the ones he sent (with credits pick-pocketed from people he knew wouldn't miss them) would be caught by some sort of filter and eventually make their way to someone who would, if nothing else, investigate.

Sleeping on the streets was worse than sleeping in the ventilation shaft, but eventually he met other children in very different and yet so similar situations and they showed him how to get better at it. He went back to the pay-per-minute server to check his messages every few days, religiously, but as the days turned to weeks turned to months, he began to question whether or not this was just his life now.

Sometimes he spent hours staring at the Corellian Temple, knowing he'd find warm food and a soft bed there.

***

Jango's mark developed over time, as was common with the older of a match. It was just a single black line down his sternum as a baby, details filling out as he grew.

He was nearly twenty when it was fully revealed, meaning his soulmate was almost a decade younger than him--a child. He'd hoped for a partner, after Jaster's death, but he trusted in the _manda_ to have given him what he needed.

A mark featuring the Darksaber was unmistakable as far as him being their match, he thought, even though it gave him little idea of how to find them. But as he waited, and waited, he began to worry.

A year after, he found out why. Suddenly, it was clear the Darksaber wasn't just placed upon them as a symbol of Jango's position as the rightful Mand'alor, but because his soulmate was a _jetii_. Or, at least, being raised as such.

And the _jetiise_ were trying to keep him.

He didn't bother to hide that, no matter what they "politely" requested. The clans who hadn't yet allied with anyone came to him first, which was not unexpected. When _Kyr'tsad_ came, he could admit he was surprised (though in retrospect, with the chance at renewed hostilities against the Republic, maybe he shouldn't have been). The New Mandalorians, proving once more to be _dar'manda_ , stayed away.

For years he gathered forces and support, ever preparing for the day he'd have to _fight_ for his destined match. The _manda_ was cruel, but he knew that this struggle was required. He would have never so easily united his people without the separation from his match.

When he was told of the possible contact from his soulmate, he acted. He knew this time it wasn't a trick, wasn't a trap. Maybe it was their marks, maybe it was his soul communicating with his perfect match, he didn't know.

But he was proven right, because the boy his people found homeless on the streets of Coronet City was his soulmate. Smart enough, good enough, to escape the _jetiise_ and survive until help could come for him.

The fourteen year old was too-skinny and fragile, but Jango could hardly keep track of his worry at the immense _rightness_ of being with his match. 

The _jetiise_ would pay for keeping this from him.


	10. Obi-Wan/Satine (AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the beginnings of a clone army are discovered, the Republic turns against the Jedi who must have commissioned an army to take control.

" _Ben_ ," the way Satine says his name jolts Obi-Wan from his memories of Qui-Gon, and he's not surprised when she's suddenly there, in front of him.

After tucking Anakin safely away with the Naberries on Naboo, he'd known he had to make a choice (one teenage boy wasn't so hard to hide, a man along with him became harder, he could not risk the Naberries, Anakin, or Naboo). To stay in Republic space at all was to invite death at every turn--he had no illusions about what happened to most of the Jedi who were arrested, he'd felt too many deaths in the Force over the last few months.

The comm to Satine was short, coded with phrases they'd used while on the run. He'd left for Mandalore without a reply, knowing it was too much risk for both of them.

He'd been approached as soon as he entered the space port, taken through backstreets and a utility entrance, and now he was here, in Satine's home.

"I thought--I thought the worst, before you commed."

Obi-Wan hesitated only a moment before gesturing in offer of an embrace, which she readily took. As proper as she could be, as much as she wanted to ignore her people's traditional culture, she still felt as strongly as any of them.

Holding her tightly, breathing in the scent of her (and the lilies that must have been in her hair before she came to see him), he allowed himself to relax for he first time since the Chancellor's announcement.

"Thank you, for doing this. You--I'm sorry for bringing any danger here, with me."

She scoffed. "You're just returning the favor, now I'm the one who gets to protect you." Her voice softened. "I know what it's like, to have your House threatened. I wish you weren't experiencing this."

After, she helped him settle into a grand room, clean up, and the two of them settled in for a meal. The food was familiar enough to be nostalgic and while Obi-Wan normally didn't have much of an appetite, he found himself eating all of it.

"I know enough about the culture here to pass, I can even fake an accent, I just need the papers to go along with it," he finally said, into a lull in the lighter conversation they'd been holding. "I can head to one of the more transient areas and--"

"Your plan is to hide here?"

She was contained enough to not be easy to read in the Force, but there as a hot edge of determination that made Obi-Wan pause.

"Yes, it won't be long until the Republic starts pressing the outside systems harboring Jedi to turn us over or face consequences."

Not that he knew _why_. The excuses given, about the clone army that had been found in its nascent stage, was ridiculous. The Jedi Order didn't want an army and definitely not to take over.

"You'll need to hide. Any slip into that Coruscant accent, any show of the Force, and the game would be up." Before he could protest, she reached over to him, placing a hand over his. "Ben...when we...when you left. What were you thinking?"

She knew, of course she knew. She'd been too familiar with the weight of duty to say anything about it, before.

"...I would have stayed, if you asked."

"You couldn't, because of the Order. Because Jedi can't follow their hearts. But...I don't want to use what we have out of cynicism, I don't want to taint it, but to anyone who learned our story, wouldn't this look like the perfect opportunity?"

He'd dwelt on it for two days as Satine handled her duties and he spoke to her people. Even before he had accepted, they were outfitting him in a wardrobe of expensive Sundari clothing and briefing him on recent politics and policies.

Satine thought it was inevitable. Obi-Wan suspected it really was.

They kicked it off with an official announcement, that included Obi-Wan having to stand up on holocam and say he was no longer a Jedi. It was infuriating, but he didn't know what else to do. Maybe other Jedi would come, knowing they'd be safe, and they could quietly continue the Order until they could become public again.

Not that _Obi-Wan_ would be doing that with them....To save others, he'd have to break some of the most basic tenants of the Order. He couldn't just _pretend_ to be with Satine, he would be, he'd let himself get so attached he wouldn't be able to return to being a Jedi.

His announcement was broadcast throughout Mandalore and picked up, of course, by Republic news. He, Satine, and her speech writers had spun a tale of star-crossed lovers, duty, and how Obi-Wan was finally 'free.' 

The Mandalorians ate it up, of course. 

So they dated. Or maybe it was more like they courted. Someone, somewhere, dug up a few records of his mission to protect her. He found himself doing activities just for the press, just to make his story more believable (to protect Satine, to protect Mandalore).

Not that it was a smooth process. Not all the New Mandalorians liked him, even as he hid his lightsaber in special pockets and layers, because he wouldn't fully commit to pacifism (his people were out there being _murdered_ , he couldn't swear he'd never find a way to help that could include violence). 

A trip to Keldabe in an attempt to mend more ties ended up with him accidentally using Mando'a (blessedly not caught by anyone but the residents and a few of Satine's people), which somehow got around the city enough that the more traditional Mandalorians thought he was on their side.

Which was hilarious to Satine's people up to a point, and that point was Jango Fett's reappearance and claim to still be Mand'alor.

"He has the Republic's backing, no matter how well they're trying to hide it. Because of _me_ ," Obi-Wan hissed when they dug deeper into what Fett had been up to all these years.

"You know you're not to blame, the Republic is becoming more expansionist. They want Mandalore to submit to their rule and are using Fett as a way to get that."

"I can't believe he'd give up Mandalore just to rule it."

That had caused Satine to look thoughtful and the very next day that was the speculation across the holonews networks--that to follow Fett was to join the Republic. It effectively squashed much of his support, especially since Satine decided desperate measures were necessary and sent Obi-Wan to talk to many of the traditional hold-outs. He--his attitude towards fighting, his knowledge of Mando'a--was a sign that maybe if they kept pushing, the New Mandalorians would compromise on something. 

Obi-Wan felt bad about perpetuating the lie, but he owed Satine too much not to help her. And he'd been trained to play politics, even if that was from a Jedi perspective.

He'd been on comm silence for much of a year when he finally heard from Anakin. It wasn't what he'd been expecting and he had a sinking feeling in his stomach (a warning hum in the Force) as Anakin said the Chancellor had pardoned him and any other Padawan or initiate who renounced the Jedi.

Anakin thought it meant that Obi-Wan should return, that since Obi-Wan had _wanted_ to leave as a Padawan but been forced to stay (and, oh, how the holonet had twisted his story after it had been released) and was a hero of the Chancellor's own planet, that he could get a pardon, too.

But there was something wrong, Obi-Wan knew it. Anakin seemed happy, healthy, but...even with their training bond stretched to near-nothing, he was unsettling.

A part of him felt awful doing it, but he turned down the offer. He used his relationship with Satine as an excuse, so it would not be taken by the Chancellor as some sort of insult.

The Chancellor who lied about the Jedi, ordered them destroyed, and was trying to get control of Mandalore.

Obi-Wan had a sinking feeling he knew why, knew what was behind all of this, and could only pray that Anakin could resist the Dark better than most of their lineage had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the AU verse, basically someone investigated Sifo-Dyas' path way earlier, the clone army wasn't at all ready (nor was the Separatists or the political turmoil set up well enough) and so Palpatine manipulated things to look like the Jedi meant to basically take over the Republic.


	11. Obi-Wan Gen (Fell on Naboo AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan flees possible execution for using the Dark against Maul and stumbles into something even bigger.

"Kenobi!"

He froze, the Force buzzing a warning that running wouldn't get him anywhere this time. Turning, Obi-Wan found two Jedi watching him, lightsaber hilts in their hands. Around them, the street had gone quiet, the lowlives and mercenaries in this part of Nar Shaddaa familiar with the threat the Jedi represented.

"We're taking you in!" the Knight, and the Council had been smart enough to send people he only vaguely recognized after him and not someone he might be able to talk down, called.

He scoffed. "I'm not going back so the Council can execute me for _saving someone's life_."

"You _fell_. We won't allow you to pollute the galaxy with the Dark side."

Some Jedi were particularly fanatical about the Dark, generally ones that had never actually seen someone using it. Obi-Wan had known since he was twelve that the Dark wasn't a reason to sacrifice his own compassion. Becoming a monster to fight a monster wouldn't actually improve the world.

"Then I suppose we're at an impasse."

The first Knight sneered, the only warning Obi-Wan received before he attacked. 

Obi-Wan had left his lightsaber in the transport he'd been supposed to take from Naboo to Coruscant, but he'd often been without his lightsaber while fighting on his worst missions, captured or not being able to have such an obvious identifier on him, he'd learned quickly how to fight without a weapon against another.

And it was clear, whatever assignments these Knights normally had, they weren't used to fighting people familiar with lightsaber combat.

He ducked one strike, twisting and rolling, letting the two work against each other and have to constantly adjust as he forced them together. During a flip he managed to grab the knife in his boot, landing faster than expected with a sudden push of the Force and slamming the knife into a nerve cluster in the lekku of the first Knight. They screamed in pain and he grabbed their lightsaber from their weakened grip, just in time to block a strike from the second Jedi.

Moments like these, since starting his flight across the galaxy, made him realize just how good of a fighter he actually was. With Qui-Gon, he'd never felt good enough. In the training salle, having to follow all the rules of the spar and keep his emotions locked down so as not to embarrass his master with his passion, he'd assumed he was a fighter of middling skill, his real talent in his clever words.

Here, in the wild, letting go, he was coming to realize their as a reason he was the one capable of killing a Sith.

He twirled out of the way of another strike, ducking to avoid a punch from the now weaponless Knight, and heard another scream as the other lightsaber cut into them, their partner not pulling their blow fast enough.

His opponent's shock and horror gave him another opening, slicing off the arm holding the lightsaber, then kicking them in the head hard enough to knock them out.

Obi-Wan dropped the borrowed lightsaber--still too indoctrinated to steal one--and finally ran.

If he got far enough away, he could have time to change out disguises and get off planet.

There was no warning in the Force when a hand grabbed him, pulling him through a door that quickly shut behind him. He twisted, breaking the hold, falling into a ready stance.

Four figures in _beskar'gam_ stood watching him, relaxed despite his readiness to fight.

"Calm down, we're no friends of the _jetiise_."

He narrowed his eyes at the speaker, trying to remember what the symbols and colors of his armor meant. "Considering I was, until recently, a _jetii_ , that doesn't fill me with much confidence coming from a _ori'ramikad_."

Their surprise at his Mando'a echoed through the room and then settled, somehow, into reassurance. 

"Exactly. We've got a common enemy."

"And?" There was more to this than them temporarily inconveniencing the Jedi, he could feel it.

"You need somewhere to lie low, for at least a few years if they're hunting you that fiercely. I need people of certain skillsets who are willing to disappear."

Whatever the Force was trying to tell him, it was practically screaming, now. He didn't have to be Mace Windu to feel the massive shatterpoint of this moment, to know this decision could make or break him and he didn't know which.

But he had nothing left to lose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically, Obi-Wan Falls on Naboo to save Qui-Gon, thinks for various reasons that the Council are going to have him executed, flees, and ends up joining the Cuy'val Dar lol
> 
> (I don't think canon Obi-Wan would ever fall, I think that's kind of the point of his character that some people can just have absolutely horrible stuff happen their whole life and stay Light, and I don't think he'd seek revenge against the Jedi even if he did, but this is an AU sooo)


	12. Cody & Obi-Wan (Order 66 AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan makes an announcement before the final fight with Grievous.

Obi-Wan looked over at Cody and even though his expression didn't change, Cody knew he was about to say something important--and so did the rest of the vod'e nearby, he thought, as he saw them quieting and paying more attention.

"I feel that you should be the first to know." Obi-Wan paused, centering himself. "That after I kill Grievous, I...plan to...retire."

He knew that Obi-Wan didn't mean he'd just be leaving the Council, somehow, not with the gravity of his tone. That he'd leave the Jedi was not something Cody had ever considered (outside of his most indulgent, guilty pleasure fantasies). 

"I don't want any of you to feel as though I'm abandoning you. I will be working towards fixing the problems caused by this war, including your lack of citizenship. But...there are things I cannot do, as a Jedi. And the Order...it is so far from what it once was. Working within its constraints will only slow down what help I can give you."

Cody carefully set a hand on Obi-Wan's arm, their eyes meeting. "We know you wouldn't abandon us, General," not after the last time, not after the Council had ordered him to fake his death and he'd seen the fallout of it. 

***

Something in Cody's brain wasn't right, it had shifted, twisted, and he couldn't fight it.

Already he and his men were moving to follow their new order, but...but that didn't make sense, he realized, freezing up.

"General Kenobi killed Grievous," he managed to say, through the comms. "That was the terms of his leaving the Order. He is no longer a Jedi."

The relief from the horrible pressure in his head he'd been fighting made his breath catch. All around him vod'e swayed, slumped, a few even collapsed.

Obi-Wan, clearly sensing that something was happening, but unaware of how close he had come to death, returned to his side with a curious look just before he stiffened, hands flying to his head.

They were there to comfort him as he felt the traitors dying, knowing that even if they deserved it, that was still their general's former family. Cody was so relieved that Obi-Wan must have seen through it, must have known they were traitors. Their General was too good of a person to be one of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I get amused at all the potential loopholes in Order 66


	13. Obi-Wan Gen (Mandalorian Obi-Wan AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mandalorians and Jedi don't mix, but when Obi-Wan's visions are too horrific for his parents to counter, he is given into the Temple's care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the anonymous prompt: "Mandalorian born obiwan but he’s still given to the Jedi, but still wears the armour/speaks the language.. basically like Tarre Vizsla (also could you preferably make him/his family true mandalorians?) with eventual jangobi! I love your writing!" This was originally published [here](https://manyangledone.tumblr.com/post/624761853850124289/mandalorian-born-obiwan-but-hes-still-given-to)
> 
> **I am not taking unsolicited requests at this time**

It takes Ala-Wan five planets to find a _jetii_. When she does, she spends a whole day observing him, blending into the market where he seems to be collecting information, before approaching him. 

This was not _done_. And, yet, she had no other choice.

He was wary of her, as he _should_ be. Her _beskar'gam_ was back on her ship, as was much of her weaponry, but no _Haat'ade_ would ever be less than a challenge. 

Still, perhaps using the magic that the _jetii_ controlled, he heard the truth in her words and went back to that ship. To her precious _ad_ , the greatest treasure she'd ever earned.

Her _riduur_ would never forgive her for this, no matter the reason, but she was on the other side of the galaxy on a job that would take at least another dozen days to finish. It would be too late, then, to reverse what Ala-Wan was doing.

She would never understand, born and raised _Mando'ad_. Ala-Wan had fallen in love with her, had given up her past Stewjoni culture and sworn to the _Mand'alor_ for her, but they were not the same, no matter what the _Mando'ade_ said of a _cin vhetin_. 

Their son was not having nightmares. Ala-Wan could not keep pretending he was, not when too many of the horrific things he had seen had already come true. Deaths, lost battles, famines in worlds the five year old had never learnt of but could describe in great detail.

They could not help him.

The _jetiise_ were the only ones who could.

He held his _buir_ for as long as he could before he silently followed the _jetii_ away, glancing back at her constantly until he could see her no more. She'd explained it as well as she could, but she knew the reality would not be clear to him at first.

When it was, she could only hope her little Obi-Wan forgave her someday. That he understood why she had to do this.

***

Obi-Wan is eleven years old when Master Tyvokka takes him as his Padawan learner. Some might say he doesn't deserve it, Master Tyvokka so well-regarded and a member of the High Council at that, but he had known it would be so. They were both too strong in the Unifying Force and the Master had been the one his _buir_ had trusted to bring him to the Temple. That _aay'han_ had forged a connection between them, even before a Force bond developed.

His relief, still, was palpable. For all that he had been among the Jedi for six years, he still remembered what his life had been like before the creche. He remembered his _buire_ , he remembered their lessons. Being raised as a _jetii_ on _Coruscanta_ would not make him _dar'manda_. 

For all his position as a Council member, Master Tyvokka understood that. He never asked Obi-Wan to give up what little he had of his culture, even though it sometimes made encounters with other Jedi awkward. 

As he grew, it became worse. Maybe the other Masters were fine when it was an Initiate slipping _Mando'a_ into their speech or was more interested in hand-to-hand combat than others, but for a Padawan it was different.

Master Tyvokka did what he could. Obi-Wan's lineage brother, Plo Koon, and his friends like Qui-Gon Jinn tried, as well.

It felt almost like he was being mocked, when they were sent to Mandalore. Obi-Wan _knew_ that wasn't actually the case--after all, he was probably the most fluent in the language and culture of any Jedi--but it seemed like a test.

Every moment there he thought of Master Jinn's last apprentice, who had returned home and _betrayed_ the Order. He could not become like him, _ijaat_ demanded that he not. He may not yet be a Knight, may not have sworn himself to the Jedi yet, but he'd worked too hard, had too much of their trust, to let himself be anything but a future Jedi Knight.

When the _Mando'ade_ heard his full name, it meant something to them. It made even Satine Kryze, who they were guarding, nervous. No one would tell him why, as though they were protecting him.

No one would tell him until he finally just asked an opponent while they were fighting _Kyr'tsad_. The _hut'uun_ had found it hilarious, and finally told him of the history he'd not known--he was all that was left of his Clan and House.

They saved the Duchess, his skin crawling and mind screaming as they reaffirmed New Mandalorian power.

He left beside his Master and was informed it had all been a test--that soon enough he'd be a Knight.

Standing in the Council chambers, where he'd spent so many happy hours of his Padawan years with his Master, that did not bring him the joy he had expected.

***

He was twenty-four years old when he became a Sith Killer. 

The mission was more difficult than it could have been, but exactly what the Force had told he and his Master to expect. It had gone more smoothly for them, they knew, than it would have for any other pair, the Unifying Force loved Master Tyvokka and the Master would claim it loved Obi-Wan, as well.

They had expected betrayal at every turn, had sensed the Darkness seeped through the plots against Naboo. Neither of them had expected an _actual_ Sith, but between the Wookie Master and a Mandalorian Knight, with a bond as strong as _beskar_ , they were all-but destined to triumph.

For once, Obi-Wan didn't feel like he was precariously straddling two cultures at odds. He was floating high on the praise and regard from his peers, the affirmation of his Knighthood. 

He was twenty-four when he let himself forget more and more of his past, use less and less of his language. He released the regrets and grief for his family into the Force and let the Light comfort him through it all. He was a Jedi and that was what he was meant to be.

***

He was thirty-five when he found out that (of course) _Kyr'tsad_ was full of liars. And that every moment of the last eleven years of trying to extract himself from his past, to be a _Jedi_ and not _Mando'ad_ , had been a lie he was telling himself.

The Kaminoan stood with him outside an open door, completely unaware of what she was doing as she introduced Jedi Master Obi-Wan Mereel to the _beroya_ Jango Fett.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically, I was thinking one of Obi-Wan's moms was a Stewjoni who fell in love with a Mandalorian (who happened to be Jaster Mereel's sister).
> 
> Mando'a:  
> jetii/jetiise - Jedi/Jedi (pl)  
> beskar'gam - armor  
> Haat'ade - True Mandalorians  
> riduur - spouse  
> cin vhetin - white field, becoming Mandalorian and basically getting a blank slate  
> buir/buire - parent/parents  
> aay'han - bittersweet perfect moment of joy and mourning  
> dar'manda - disgraced former Mandalorian  
> ijaat - honor  
> hut'uun - coward (very awful insult)  
> beroya - bounty hunter


	14. Xanatos & Obi-Wan (Time Travel AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "See your first Padawan there?" Qui-Gon joked beside him, studying the group of toddlers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as I mentioned on my tumblr, this started out as an idea that Xanatos came back in time to just before his Trials and then Obi-Wan also goes back in time to just before Naboo (aka his Trial) and shenanigans. And I might still write that at some point, but instead this one was what actually happened.

Everything hurt.

"Xan!"

Burning, he was burning.

"Xan! Please!"

There was a shift, a flurry of activity, and then he was lying down on cool grass, staring up at...at his mother's face.

"What...?"

She sobbed when he responded, clutching him and crying into his chest, and he looked around, taking in where they were, who was there.

He remembered this place. These people.

When he started to move, realizing the burning was not only gone, but that he felt better than he had in _years_ , he couldn't help but notice how small he was.

How young.

A commotion to their side drew his attention to his father, charging through the small crowd of servants, a medic at his heels.

His father. His mother. His old home.

There was no Death, no afterlife. Which meant....

He had a lot of things to think about.

***

Xanatos froze, staring at the Youngling that had just started stumbling its way down the hallway behind the others. He didn't spend much time in the creche, having little love for the noise and mess, and he'd somehow managed to forget how much time has passed.

"See your first Padawan there?" Qui-Gon joked beside him, studying the group of toddlers.

He almost choked at the idea, felt Master Dooku shift beside him. When he'd come back, he'd decided to go about consolidating power differently. It had been less than a year before Qui-Gon found him and he decided that becoming a Jedi would still work out best. Leaving as a Knight would get him far less scrutiny and he'd retain some allies in the Order if he played things right. 1

When he returned to the Temple, it was to find he wasn't the only one that got this second chance. And what his Grandmaster had told him...well, they had much more to prepare themselves for, now.

"Xan?"

Sucking in a breath, he looked at his Master (who he was enjoying breaking much more slowly and precisely this time), then back at the little boy who would have been his greatest legacy.

The choice presented to him was just too good to resist.

"I...I think I have."

He walked forward, catching Obi-Wan's curious gaze, and the boy went willingly into his arms, snuggling into his hold as Xanatos projected comfort into the Force around them.

Master Dooku stepped up beside them, gently stroking the boy's hair. He'd told Xanatos much of his brother Padawan's tragic future, always tinged with the regret that Obi-Wan had never joined him. Unlike Feemor with his peasant family or the uncouth slave boy that Qui-Gon had wanted to replace all three of them with, Obi-Wan had been properly raised and even during their frenetic encounters, had rarely seemed less than civilized. It was no wonder Dooku had respected him over the dregs of the rest of his remaining lineage.

While Xanatos didn't know the adult Obi-Wan, he did remember him as a child. He remembered the way he worshipped Qui-Gon, the way he twisted himself around trying to become exactly what his Master wanted. He would have died just to have Qui-Gon's approval.

Xanatos wouldn't be as foolish as Qui-Gon, he would take full advantage of that. In his mind's eye, he could already imagine the General Kenobi that Dooku had told him of, loyal to _Xanatos_.

"Hello, little one," he murmured, stroking Obi-Wan's cheek. "I'll be your master someday soon."

****

He's surprised how much Obi-Wan has remained the same, without the crushing inferiority complex of a washed out Initiate weighing him down. Dooku had said the other version of him had been the ideal Jedi--the sort who would never Fall, who could fight superior opponents and win from skill not power, selfless and self-sacrificing. Xanatos had assumed most of that came from childhood abuse.

But in this timeline, Obi-Wan was one of the few Initiates who grew knowing they already had a Master and became a Padawan at the earliest age to a well-regarded, dashing Knight. A Master who visited often during his time in the creche and had no problem getting any bullies to back off (and if some of them were punished in ways that the Jedi would never know of, well, that was a master's perogative). And yet Obi-Wan still seemed to disbelieve just how good at all the Jedi business he was.

Xanatos thought maybe he was incapable of seeing such truths, since he thought Xanatos was an amazing Jedi and Xanatos was a Sith pretending to be a Jedi.

Or, at least, as much of a Sith as someone could get, completely removed from Bane's line and learning in secret as he and Dooku were.

Still, there was something so...flattering about his regard that Xanatos found himself trying to live up to it when he could. Helping people he would have ignored, biting back criticism at the non-humans, only snarking slightly at the uneducated and foolish. Pretending he thought these backwater planets deserved Jedi helping them.

He was still, of course, destroying Qui-Gon's mind and soul little by little behind Dooku's back. And running some companies from the shadows that no version of Obi-Wan would ever approve of. And plotting the downfall of both the other Sith and the Jedi.

But he had some time to waste, all of his plans too long-term, enough that he could be kind to strangers in return for Obi-Wan's bright smiles. Could go out of mission parameters to help more just to overhear Obi-Wan talking in awed tones about him to his peers.

Xanatos could understand why Yoda thought Obi-Wan could save Qui-Gon from himself in the last life. He also found Qui-Gon even more pathetic for not realizing what sort of treasure he'd had.

****

"Stop! Please!"

Xanatos stared in horror as his Padawan--who was supposed to stay safe on the ship--threw himself into the battlefield, his lightsaber lit...and catching Master Dooku's blade before it could strike down another Mandalorian.

The blade shut off an instant later, Dooku hurriedly stepping back as if to show he was no threat. 

Obi-Wan was thirteen, tiny, and still so soft-hearted that Xanatos thought it might be an affect of his very soul, not just his upbringing. He shouldn't have been anywhere near Galidraan, especially after he and Dooku had decided it should go similar to the last time to keep Mandalore destabilized, but the Council had foolishly thrown him into the mission.

And he must have felt the death and pain from all the way back at the ship. He looked like he'd run the entire way, breathing hard but so sure of himself.

"What are you doing?! We're peacekeepers, not--not murderers!"

A few of the Knights had already turned off their sabers, horror echoing around them like they'd only just realized what they were doing. The Mandalorians were using the distraction to regroup, huddling together and trying to save some of their injured. Many of their blasters were still pointed at the Jedi, but none anywhere near Obi-Wan.

"Get out of the way, brat!" Vosa started, actually looking like she planned to attack the Padawan.

That Dooku had ever thought he could raise her differently still baffled Xanatos.

" _Adiik_ ," a Mandalorian shifted towards Obi-Wan, others following, as though _they_ could defend him.

And then Xanatos finally moved, fury flushing through him and making it so, so hard to conceal his Darker nature. "Don't even think about it, Vosa." 

He stood next to and a little in front of Obi-Wan, now, facing down his Master's sister Padawan, unintentionally defending the Mandalorians. Any doubts about his actions he had were banished when Obi-Wan's free hand gripped his robe, their bond shivering with his Padawan's adoration.

She scoffed. "Your attachment to the boy is clouding your senses."

"Your anger and fear are making yours questionable," he shot back, knowing the others would understand he was accusing her of near-Falling.

Before she could defend herself, Dooku gripped her arm, forcing it down. Xanatos met his eyes, trying to convey the new plan in just a few looks. Obi-Wan, from what he'd heard, had some Force-driven connection to Mandalore in the last life, and now he'd have the remains of the True Mandalorians owing him their lives. It couldn't be a coincidence.

***

Xanatos didn't normally approve of most of his Padawan's friends, he'd done his best over the years to isolate him more and more, making sure he was too busy to spend time with them, to distracted even to send them messages. His Padawan should be solely focused on _him_.

But Vos...had his uses. The Council was biding its time, waiting for him to Fall, and from what Dooku had said it would happen. And Vos came with Tholme, having a Shadow see Xanatos as an ally could never hurt.

So, Obi-Wan was allowed one friend, for all the headaches their exploits gave Xanatos. Two too-angry boys that no one would have wanted if they hadn't been chosen by Masters so young. Who would, as much as their exposure to Xanatos and Dooku, help guide each other to the Dark.

***

Dooku and he had been preparing for this moment perhaps more than any other. Too much hinged on one person and they'd gone back and forth for ages trying to decide if one of them wouldn't just take a detour and kill the kid.

Yet here they were, watching Qui-Gon twist himself into knots trying to get the Council to accept a nine year old as his Padawan.

Qui-Gon had asked Xanatos to watch the boy while he spoke with them (and Dooku, of course, was on the Council now, so he couldn't do it). Normally, even if Obi-Wan was newly Knighted and not technically under Xanatos' authority anymore he would have given the task to him.

But not for this child.

He did a good job at playing innocent, an even better job at hiding his Darkness behind a blinding amount of Force. But Xanatos now had his confirmation about what it was that meant just he and his Grandmaster had been brought back before.

Falling.

"Xan? I brought--oh, hello." Obi-Wan, with his impeccably annoying timing, walked into Xanatos' rooms to find him and Skywalker staring at each other.

Before Xanatos could decide on a reaction, Skywalker was moving, giving Obi-Wan a bright, adorable smile and trying to help him with the containers of food he'd brought. Qui-Gon must have told him at some point and now Obi-Wan, aware of how little Xanatos liked children, thought he was helping his Master.

"Hi! I'm Anakin!"

Obi-Wan smiled softly and introduced himself, keeping up a pleasant conversation with this boy he thought would be part of his grandmaster's lineage. He already seemed charmed.

As if sensing just how much Xanatos was seething at watching the young man who always put _him_ first focused on some brat, Skywalker spared a moment when Obi-Wan's back was turned to give Xanatos a truly cruel smirk. It was chilling on a child and made him hesitate from interfering, not sure how Skywalker would react.

When Obi-Wan finally had to go to one of the classes he was an assistant instructor for, they were alone again. Xanatos was exhausted from keeping himself from driving his lightsaber through to the little monster's heart. And his frustration that his former Padawan just did not notice, thought Skywalker was adorable.

"They're going to make me an Initiate," Skywalker stated, cruel eyes locking on Xanatos again. "And I'm going to be Obi-Wan's Padawan."

"I didn't think that worked out so well for you, last time."

Choking, he was choking, just for a moment, just as a warning. He didn't even feel the Dark except right around his neck. What _was_ this creature?

"He was my Padawan, not Qui-Gon's. You won't find him such a pushover."

"He's _mine_. He'll always be." Skywalker's face was twisted and ugly, his hands clenching at his sides. 

Xanatos gritted his teeth, knowing he didn't want to upset Skywalker too much. He would just have to make sure Obi-Wan took someone else as a Padawan, first. Assuming the boy wouldn't kill them. Which...Dooku had said part of the plan Sidious had for Skywalker's Fall involved slaughtering the whole creche.

"There are plans in place, Dooku and I have spent decades--"

"I don't care what your ineffectual plans are, I know exactly what needs to be done. Either you help me or you're standing in my way. You don't want me as your enemy."

Despite the threat coming from a nine year old, Xanatos knew the words were true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically, the disaster lineage members who Fell are the ones who get sent back in time, to just a little before they're taken by the Jedi.
> 
> Anakin is still dark here because like two seconds of doing something good because his kid is otherwise going to die after like twenty years of committing genocide and shit isn't really the same thing as a true redemption lbh And I guess you could say this assumes Force ghosts don't exist or something like that lol
> 
> Quinlan included in this because you're all freaking obsessed with him lol


	15. Jango/Obi-Wan (Vampire AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan became addicted to the feeling of being fed off of while on his Mandalore mission and now he's desperate for a fix.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW blood, a fade to black and implied sex after
> 
> From an anonymous prompt on my tumblr, "Love all your JangObi works! Was wondering if you can write a vampire!au JangObi? Preferably vampire Jango but any take you like is ok too." Originally posted [here](https://manyangledone.tumblr.com/post/625452608870596608/love-all-your-jangobi-works-was-wondering-if-you).
> 
> **I am not taking unsolicited requests at this time**

It wasn’t that Obi-Wan was reckless, per se. He just…there were parts of himself he kept so tightly controlled with the Jedi, with Qui-Gon (he could only imagine how his Master would react), that sometimes he needed a release from the pressure so badly he…maybe wasn’t as careful as he should be.

He knew he should have reported his encounters in Mandalore during their year-long mission when they returned, but the Healers found no sign and no one had ever bothered giving him a mindhealer before. And the memories were his, something to cleave closely to his heart when it ached to leave Satine.

The cool bodies, the sharp teeth, the blissful high of giving his blood, his energy, over.

Vampires were supposed to be gone, even if the traditionalist Mandalorians kept up some of their traditions. How was he supposed to know that there were actually a lot of them in Death Watch and a Stewjoni might as well be tookabait to them?

So maybe dressing up like a spacer and heading down to the Mandalorian section of Coruscant, after a stressful two-month long mission wasn’t the best idea. But the moment he realized someone was following him, someone in beskar'gam who still managed to be near-soundless as they moved? He couldn’t help himself from slipping into an empty alley and just waiting.

The Mandalorian followed quickly, for a moment seeming surprised that Obi-Wan was there instead of running, and then a chuckle came through the vocoder in his helmet.

“Hello, there,” Obi-Wan breathed out, staring into the eyes that were covered, but he knew would be brightening with the prospect of a willing feed.

“Su'cuy, mesh'la jat'verc'ika.”

And just like that, Obi-Wan obediently followed the Mandalorian away from the street, towards a more secluded sector and a room that looked like it might be a regular spot for him when he was on Coruscant. There was no question what he was, no one was foolish enough to wear beskar'gam around there without the right to and no Mandalorian would pretend to be a tal'gaanla.

And only they would be calling strangers jat'verc'ika, no matter how obviously Stewjoni he was. During the height of the Mandalorian Empire, his people had been bred for the tal'gaanla, after all, and it would be dishonorable for anyone else to try to claim one.

When the door was closed (and thoroughly locked) behind them, the Mandalorian took off his buy'ce, allowing Obi-Wan to study his face as he set it aside and studied Obi-Wan back.

His eyes were golden, as most of his kind had, not the unnatural color of the darksiders but more akin to the metal. His skin was towards the darker side for near-humans, his hair was black and had the slightest hint of curl on the edges. He was around Obi-Wan’s height, solidly build, and attractive on top of Obi-Wan’s instinctual need.

“You must have it bad, to be wondering around here all alone,” the tal'gaanla stated in Mando'a, voice calm, commanding.

Obi-Wan allowed a wry smile, leaning against the wall near the door. “It’s been two years,” using Mando'a in return, the language having come so easily to him.

“Really? What fools allowed you to be separated so long?”

The scowl was automatic as Obi-Wan thought of the people he’d desperately wanted and equally disliked. “Kyr'tsad cowards didn’t deserve to keep me.”

He waited for a reaction, ready to fight against his instinctive need if he had to make a break, but the hatred that seeped from the tal'gaanla’s shields was an old one.

“No, they didn’t.” The agreement was certain, fierce, then there were hands dragging Obi-Wan deeper into the warm, pushing him towards a single bed. “I’ll give you what you need, my beautiful feast, you won’t have to crawl back to those traitors.”

And he did, he definitely did.

After, Obi-Wan could barely move from the bed, shifting just enough when he had to for the tal'gaanla to care for him. He drank a thick, sweet juice to help with his blood loss and languidly shifted as he was wiped clean with a warm, damp cloth.

“I didn’t even get your name,” he murmured.

The members of Death Watch he’d been with had insisted that, traditionally, he wouldn’t use their names. They were known by deeper ways than speech and it would be vulgar for a jat'verc'ika to say them as mortals aruetiise would. But this was a modern era and their kind were no longer so prominent. Obi-Wan thought they should adapt more.

As if to prove his point, the tal'gaanla with him bent back over him, letting his sharp teeth brush the healing marks on Obi-Wan’s inner thigh. “Jango, Jango Fett.”

After a moment, Obi-Wan’s mind caught up to the words. “…Oh…Mand'alor, I–”

“Shh, there’s no need for formality not from my jat'verc'ika.” The possessive word and tone made Obi-Wan shudder.

“Thank you, for this evening…Jango,” he replied, instead. “I’m Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

There was a noise of acknowledgement before Jango had made his way back up Obi-Wan’s body. He stroked his hair with one hand, moving the other up and biting his own wrist, the dark blood gathering sluggishly.

Obi-Wan eyes locked on it, a need building inside of him not unlike the one that drew him to have his blood taken in the first place. This part, he didn’t know, none of the others had done it, but it was the easiest thing in the galaxy to drink when Jango’s bloody wrist was pressed against his lips.

“This will protect you from the others. They will see you’re claimed and know you will not taste for them as you might have, before.”

There was more, Obi-Wan could tell, because as his instincts quietened the Force was screaming warnings at him. But they were so easy to ignore with Jango there, his presence seeming to fill up all the hollow parts inside of Obi-Wan.

Briefly, he realized this was what a Force bond could feel like, if it was stronger, sturdier, than the thing he had with Qui-Gon. He couldn’t bring himself to care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando'a:
> 
> Su'cuy - hello
> 
> mesh'la - beautiful
> 
> jat'verc'ika - vercopa is like a wish or dream, ‘ika is a diminutive, jatisyc is delicious, so something like “delicious little dream”
> 
> tal'gaanla - literally “blood chosen,” being used for vampire
> 
> buy'ce - helmet
> 
> aruetii -outsiders, traitors, foreigners, here I’m thinking the Death Watch vampires are probably extremely xenophobic and think any Mandalorians who haven’t become vampires are not worth much and any non-Mandalorians (outside of Stewjoni) are definitely worthless


	16. Obi-Wan & Jango (Bandomeer AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan didn't know much, but he did know this: The broken man next to him was a Mandalorian. And Mandalorians were dangerous people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From an anonymous prompt on my Tumblr: "You wanted Jango/Obi-Wan prompts? Obi-Wan would be a little bit young for romance, but the timeline isn’t too far off for the Governor responsible for Galidraan to have sold Jango to offworld about the time Obi-Wan’s in the mines. Cue team up to run a slave rebellion on Bandomeer. Maybe they go on to rally the remaining Haat Mando’ade? Maybe Obi still gets apprenticed, but has a Mandalorian for a pen pal?"
> 
> Originally posted [here](https://manyangledone.tumblr.com/post/625454032919642112/you-wanted-jangoobi-wan-prompts-obi-wan-would-be).
> 
> I did...the initial part of this lol.
> 
> CW slavery, referenced child abuse.
> 
> Absolutely amazing art by [bureau-pinery of Obi-Wan and Jango](https://bureau-pinery.tumblr.com/post/625505058379956224/cw-for-slavery-my-poor-suffering-boys-inspired) 💜
> 
> **I am not taking unsolicited requests at this time**

Obi-Wan didn’t have much experience in the world, he knew that now more than ever. The few trips he’d taken as an Initiate had done little to prepare him and the safety and security of the Temple, even with the way others treated him, even less.

But he did know this: The broken man next to him was a Mandalorian. And Mandalorians were dangerous people.

He just had to remind the man of that.

Time went quickly, but also seemed to drag, Obi-Wan unsure of how long they’d been there. The ache of hunger in his stomach never let up enough to judge by that and the sleep cycles seemed to be kept purposefully unpredictable to keep them tired, more docile.

In some ways, he could judge by the guard shift–but that was almost always because of which of the guards was more forceful, which of the guards had no problem holding down a twelve year old and hurting him.

That seemed to be what started bringing the Mandalorian back to himself the most–not the beatings he took, not the way the guards tried to shame him, or the way the other slaves sometimes treated him.

So that was what Obi-Wan, desperate enough to be wholly cynical, used. If he had to sacrifice his own body, his own health, to get help with an escape plot, it would be worth it.

When the Mandalorian slipped his arms around Obi-Wan’s shaking body and held him, Obi-Wan knew that this was it, the first sign that there was a person under all that hurt, and fear, and rage. When he started whispering his plans, the Mandalorian actually listened, his voice raspy from disuse as he made corrections and additions.

It was a bloodbath. After what might have been weeks, or months, or slavery, of beatings and near-starvation, the Mandalorian was still a warrior the likes of which Obi-Wan had never seen. And every guard he killed raised the bloodlust of the other freed slaves, until they descended on anyone who wasn’t them and tore them apart.

There was no chance for anyone to use the collars against them, Obi-Wan had been one of the people tasked with taking the signal out and was relieved that their slicing skills had been up to the task.

When they got to the mainland, in stolen armor with stolen weapons, they didn’t leave any survivors there, either. Obi-Wan spared a thought to going to the AgriCorps, to tell them what had happened, but before he could even verbalize the desire, the Mandalorian was pulling him to one of the stolen ships.

Sometime in hyperspace they exchanged names.

“How did you end up there, verd'ika?”

“I was a Jedi Initiate,” Obi-Wan muttered, missing how Jango tensed. “They threw me out because no one wanted me.”

He was pulled tightly into Jango’s hold again, so used to the hugs at this point he just want with it, resting his cheek against Jango’s chest.

“What about you? How did you get there?” He probably shouldn’t ask, he knew the state Jango had been in when he first arrived, but he had to.

“I was betrayed. My people were slaughtered.”

Obi-Wan caught his breath at the pain echoing through the Force despite Jango’s impressive shielding. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not on you,” there was a deeper meaning to Jango’s words that Obi-Wan couldn’t parse. “You…brought me back to myself. I don’t know what sort of person I would have been, if I’d just…given up like I wanted to. Now I can avenge my people, destroy our enemies the way they wanted to destroy us.”

The conviction rang through the ship, the hate-fury-vengeance-gratefulness coming from him nearly drowning out Obi-Wan’s own thoughts and feelings. A good Jedi would block them out, wouldn’t let them influence his own feelings. But Obi-Wan had been a really bad Jedi, bad enough to be abandoned to slavery.

“I’ll help, however I can. I promise.”

“I know, verd’ika. Don’t worry, I’m not letting you go, not like they did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando'a:
> 
> verd'ika -- in this context, "little soldier"


	17. Palpatine/Obi-Wan (Late Clone Wars AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan finally decides to see if Palpatine is as much of an ally as Anakin insists he is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some poor anon on Tumblr gave me this prompt: "Obi-Wan centric prompt: After Umbara and Krell Obi-Wan worries at how often he's sent on missions with Anakin and the 501st, leaving the 212th to other Generals. Perhaps something even happens during the Hardeen Arc while he's 'dead'. Leading him to decide to do something unwise. (Up and vanishing with the 212th? Making a deal with a devil (Dooku? Sidious? Maul?), something else unwise...)"
> 
> Probably not knowing I'm a Palpatine/Obi-Wan shipper, since it's come up in discussions but not my fic, and wouldn't be able to resist.
> 
> Originally posted [here](https://manyangledone.tumblr.com/post/625465052931194880/obi-wan-centric-prompt-after-umbara-and-krell).
> 
> **I am not taking unsolicited requests at this time**

Anakin had always insisted the Chancellor was a good person, at heart. Understanding, at least. And considering all of the ways Obi-Wan had gone above and beyond his duty for the man (faking his _death_ , ruining most of his relationships), he hoped that this favor wouldn't come at too high of a cost.

Maybe Anakin was even right, because the Chancellor seemed very willing to listen to Obi-Wan's concerns--about Krell, about some of the other Jedi and natborn officers, about his worries for the 212th if he were to continue to be assigned, over and over again, missions away from them.

It felt _good_ , having someone to talk to about these things, who understood the weight of Obi-Wan's responsibilities but wouldn't judge him for not being able to release all of his frustrations to the Force.

The Chancellor helped, requesting Obi-Wan _and_ the 212th for missions so he was almost always too busy for the other ones he might get sent on. And, yes, Obi-Wan missed working more directly with Anakin, but (as the Chancellor suggested) he also made a point to see him off-duty more.

Well, him and Padme, not that he wasn't friends with her. They both loved Anakin and there seemed to be a weight off their shoulders, knowing that Obi-Wan had always been aware of their relationship, had been shielding it from the Council without ever being asked (sometimes he felt guilty about that, but he'd spent nearly his entire adult life making concessions for Anakin and it was easy to just continue that).

His men appreciated it, too. He confessed to Cody what he'd done, worried his commander might reprimand him, but instead he'd thanked him. They'd been worried about him, too.

The Chancellor invited him to tea and Obi-Wan felt obligated to attend the first time, then _wanted_ to attend the next times. It was rare to find someone to match wits who wasn't blinded by Obi-Wan's reputation or an enemy.

Tea became lunch, where they spoke of their pasts at first in evasive terms. Obi-Wan realized that Sheev didn't have quite the luxurious and comfortable childhood many would think he had. And Obi-Wan eventually let slip more about himself--about his doubts about the war, about the Order's role in the war. About Naboo, and Mandalore, and Melida-Daan, and Bandomeer. The Chancellor was so easy to talk to, Obi-Wan now wasn't surprised why Anakin and he got along so well over the years.

Lunch became dinner--while Sheev was older than he normally went for in men, he still had a certain vigor about him and a horribly attractive competence that more than made up for their generational differences.

If only Obi-Wan could get Anakin to stop making jokes about having "two dads" after the Chancellor had let slip their budding relationship.

It was attachment, ever growing attachment--to the 212th, to Anakin and Padme, to Sheev, but Obi-Wan couldn't stop it once he'd started. It was like all the floodgates he'd ever put in place against such things had been opened.

He found whatever decreased stress he had from staying with the 212th had come back tenfold, now that he had so much more to hide from the Council. Losing his rank and positions was the least of his worries if they found out he was _kriffing the Chancellor_ and would, to their eyes, seem to be using that relationship for his own gain.

Sheev, too, knew about those fears--he had to, of course, knowing Anakin so well. He was patient about it, never pressed to have more than what Obi-Wan could give him. Well, maybe a little, his frustration with the Jedi Order and its rules, with the Council and the way it enforced them, bleeding through. Obi-Wan couldn't blame him, he was starting to feel the same way.

More and more what Sheev told him about the war and what Mace and the others said seemed to diverge. Obi-Wan hadn't realized his fellow Councilors were keeping things from him, was hurt to realize how little they seemed to trust him. He was a necessary evil, an effective combatant and PR image, one of the few of them with experience at war. They probably hadn't even wanted him _on_ the Council.

After killing Grievous, Obi-Wan thought that maybe now he could take a break, could get his head in order and have time to think through everything he'd been finding out about himself and the Jedi.

He wasn't, couldn't have been, expecting Cody to come up to him, tense and confused, to inform him that the Councilors on Coruscant had tried to assassinate Sheev. His mind raced, trying to figure out how, why--was this what they had been keeping from him? Had they simply not wanted to risk him telling Anakin or had they known all along about his own affair?

Obi-Wan was so distracted he hardly noticed being placed into a different room than his own, one with a rayshield that cut him off from the Force. It was for his own safety, his men were saying, to keep the Jedi from trying anything against him, and they wouldn't listen to reason when he pointed out that he'd be fine and _they_ were the vulnerable ones.

By the time they returned to Coruscant, the Force was...different. The cloud of the Dark Side that had been hanging over the planet for so long had grown thicker, harder to penetrate. Obi-Wan felt weak and unsure as he waded through it, his perceptions hazy at best.

Had the Order done this, too, somehow?

His men took him directly to Sheev--an Emperor now, which was just another unbelievable part of the whole. The whole way, a sense of foreboding built, making Obi-Wan's skin crawl.

He told himself once he had the answers from Sheev and Anakin, he'd feel better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figure there was some Sith magic involved, maybe some drugs, and also Palpatine manipulating things so it would look like the Council was keeping info from Obi-Wan when actually it was Palpatine keeping info from them.


	18. Jango/Obi-Wan (Mand'alor Jango AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan is assigned to the team of negotiators to work out a treaty with the new Mand'alor. It takes far longer than expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From the anonymous prompt: "Jango/Obi-Wan prompt request? How can I resist???? Jango's re-taken Mandalore from Satine, and you know, hasn't killed her because he's being 'diplomatic' but that doesn't mean he won't seduce her former lover away (both from her and the Jedi)."
> 
> Originally posted [here](https://manyangledone.tumblr.com/post/625488705762770944/jangoobi-wan-prompt-request-how-can-i-resist).
> 
> **I am not taking unsolicited requests at this time**

Obi-Wan wanted to be anywhere but Mandalore, staring down the man who called himself Mand'alor. When the Council had given him this assignment, he'd almost refused, almost (foolishly) told them of his feelings for Satine and why he could not do this.

But that would have shown too much attachment. They would have questioned his Knighting, maybe even questioned allowing him to take Anakin on as his Padawan.

It had been months since he'd taken assignments that Anakin didn't come along on, but this time he left him back at the Temple, whining about the unfairness of it all--he wasn't bringing a thirteen year old into a warzone, he wasn't Qui-Gon.

Keldabe was different than his memories--rebuilt, but not in the New Mandalorian style (he could see places, here and there, where that must have existed and been destroyed when the True Mandalorians took it back). Everywhere there were Mandalorians in beskar'gam, watching him with suspicion as if waiting for a peacekeeper to become an assassin.

If he broke the truce Fett had given them, it wouldn't be to murder him in cold blood--it would be to find where he was keeping Satine, free her, run off with her to somewhere safe. 

He wouldn't.

Fett was the sort of Mand'alor people thought of, when they thought of the Mandalorians. He might not be terribly tall, but his presence filled the room. His eyes were cold, intelligent, sweeping over Obi-Wan and easily seeing him for the threat he was--and certainly coming up with ways he thought he might neutralize him.

In turn, Obi-Wan made himself less of the ideal Jedi, trying to blur what Mandalorian culture he knew with his own heritage as often as he could. The Mandalorians, and Fett in particular, had no reason to trust a Jedi. And the Republic needed their trust, no one wanted another Blockade of Naboo or Stark Hyperspace War.

When they found out he knew Mando'a, that became the only language they used with him, leading a flighty protocol droid the Senate had sent to try to translate for the Senators with him. At first he thought to at least say his own part in Basic, but Fett backed him into verbal corners where he could choose a few words in Mando'a or paragraphs worth in his own language.

As the only one the Mandalorians were actively communicating with, at first he didn't even notice the way they isolated him from the other Republican representatives. Then, at some point, he realized he'd gone three entire days without seeing any of them and that he barely had any time in the schedule the Mandalorians had checked just to run across them and make sure they were alright.

In contrast, Fett was almost always there, watching him like a lazy predator, waiting for something Obi-Wan had yet to pinpoint. The Mand'alor cared little for most of the provisions of the treaty, it was a few of his own that Obi-Wan balked at--the Order was complicit in Galidraan, and of course regretted it, but the concessions Fett wanted for that, and to make sure it didn't happen again anywhere else, were extreme.

No matter how Obi-Wan tried to explain that such matters as the Order's connection to the Senate was necessary, was desired by many, Fett didn't budge. Not after the first debate, or the second, or the tenth.

But if he thought he could be more stubborn than Obi-Wan, he was going to be in for a surprise.

Not that Fett seemed upset, if anything he seemed amused. He invited Obi-Wan to sit in a seat of honor beside him at the feasts he threw, gave him great regard by sparring with him in the mornings when they were both free (something that happened with enough frequency Obi-Wan suspected it was planned), and taught him more about Mandalorian culture in a month than Satine had in a year.

It was a soft correction one afternoon of Obi-Wan's pronunciation--too Sundari-short for the word being said--that finally made him crack.

"What did you do to the Duchess?" Reports said she was alive, but he hadn't been able to find her in the Force.

Fett shrugged. "She's fine, under house arrest, in one piece and being taken care of well enough. Getting rid of her opens up the field for some other New Mandalorian 'leader'."

The truth rang through the Force, but Obi-Wan had the impression there was something more, some other, more personal motive.

Five months into the negotiation, having not seen anyone else from his team for four weeks, Obi-Wan almost welcomed Fett's seduction. A welcome distraction, he thought, and a way to maybe, finally, get Fett to lower his guard.

Instead it felt as though Obi-Wan was the one who had been shattered apart, Fett left to pick up the pieces. He seemed to have perfect instincts for what to say, how to move, how much pressure to use, to break through the persona of control that Obi-Wan projected.

He'd forgotten how nice it was, to just let someone else take care of him. To let them take charge and direct the entire encounter.

He was so blissed out afterwards he fell asleep in the Mand'alor's bed and had to walk out in the morning under the knowing gazes of the Mandalorian guards.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he spared a hysterical moment to wonder exactly what it was that kept attracting him to leaders of Mandalore.

Obi-Wan contacted the Council, when he could, for their opinions on the sticking points of the treaty. For updates on Anakin. He did not tell them what he was doing with Fett, certainly not that they were sleeping together, that they were dining together every night, that the Mand'alor was spending his brief moments of free time showing Obi-Wan around Keldabe and teaching him what it meant to be Mando'ad.

Compared to the Mandalorians, the Council's coldness wore on him. He knew if he was there, in the Temple, he'd feel them in the Force and know it wasn't so bad. But so far away, with no Jedi in the sector, he could only rely on their expressions and words. Both of which made him feel like a failure. When they told him they'd "temporarily" assigned Anakin to another Master, it felt like a slap to the face, even though he knew his mission had gone on longer than expected with no sign of resolution.

He spared with the Mandalorians after the holocalls, now, becoming more aggressive as he learned just how much they could take. They commented dreamily, sometimes, about what an unstoppable force he'd be like wrapped in armor made of beskar and, sometimes, Obi-Wan imagined it, too.

It was nine months in Mandalore when Obi-Wan started wondering what it would be like if he just...didn't go back. When he was younger, with Satine, he hadn't let himself delve too deeply into the fantasies, but now he couldn't help himself. He could have never prospered in the New Mandalorian utopia Satine dreamt of, but now, in Jango's Mandalore, there were avenues he hadn't expected.

Obi-Wan spent time around the city without Jango, the Mandalorian guards assigned to him helping him get around when he needed it. There were clinics that could use a Jedi's help, and shelters, and so many other ways that he was needed there. He made friends without much effort, despite being a Jedi (though, sometimes he wasn't sure everyone was aware of that, at some point Jango had put clothing for Obi-Wan in his bedroom and he'd just started putting that on instead of going back for his own things).

Eleven months in, Jango asked him to stay. For him, for Mandalore. He asked for time to meditate on the subject, spending a few days away from his lover as the world continued on around him. 

When he came back, he almost had his answer. But first, he asked to see Satine.

She was being kept in a house outside the city, under constant guard but not without some luxuries. There were servants to clean and cook, books and datapads (with limited access to the Holonet).

There was a holoprojector with holodramas and, to Obi-Wan's horror, recordings of him--him sparring with the Mandalorians, him cuddling with the Mand'alor, him walking around Keldabe and speaking Mando'a like a native.

Satine had never looked at him like that, like he'd betrayed her (broken her heart). She didn't want anything to do with him, not even his help to escape.

Back home, Jango waited for him. He took Obi-Wan's screams, rolled with his punches, let him work out his rage in a way completely unbeffiting a Jedi. He held him close as he cried, his own heart breaking at the loss of the most important love of his life.

Obi-Wan had spent two years in Mandalore, altogether, before he left the Order.


	19. Jango & Obi Wan (Mandalorian Obi-Wan AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jango's cousin was given to the Jedi and he'd been helpless to save him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sequel to Chapter 13, picking right up where that one ended.

Jango's history was written in regrets and betrayals. 

When he was on Kamino was when they were loudest in his memories, crawling through his dreams. His buir, Galidraan, the weight of chains, the people who had died and the people he'd let down.

Staring through the door, now, was another one.

When his dar'ba'vodu had stolen a child of House Mereel and given it to the Jedi, it had been a scandal. Jaster had stripped her of her name and banished her, declared her dar'manda, and even Kyr'tsad had honored that. 

At the time, Jaster had been trying to find some way to demand Ob'ika back, it wasn't _legal_ to do such things without the aliit'alor's approval and he had certainly not approved. Then he'd died, betrayed, leaving Jango with all of his work, all of his unfinished business. Their broken aliit.

His ba'vodu had no hope that the Jedi would return her child. She hadn't pulled the trigger, but she'd let herself die in battle from her grief.

And then Jango was alone, truly alone, and between the New Mandalorians and Kyr'tsad, and all their other enemies, he...just didn't have the ability to fight for his cousin.

He pushed him out of his mind, telling himself that as soon as the fighting was over, as soon as he'd consolidated power, he would bring Obi-Wan home.

At Galidraan, he'd thought of him for the first time in so many years. Watching the Jedi, emotionless monsters moving through the battlefield, striking down his people like they were vermin, his mind had gone to Obi-Wan. Whose only language had been Mando'a, who had been brought up as any proper Mando'ad should be. Who had been so sweet, so kind, that even at five Jango had been sure he'd grow into a wonderful person.

What horrors had the demagolka visited upon that little boy? Had they broken him beyond repair or had they broken him and built him back into one of these creatures?

And then it had been over and even if he'd wanted to, he was as powerless to save Ob'ika as he had been to save any of the others.

He'd thought of him again when Tyrannus--Dooku--had come to him with this contract. But he hadn't let himself consider what the consequences of it would be for Obi-Wan. Maybe, in the back of his mind, he hoped his cousin would see his familiar face reflected back so many times that it would break through whatever mind tricks the Jedi had used on him.

It was clear that Obi-Wan remembered him, despite how well he hid his expressions. His eyes had widened, his breath had sped up. The sound of Jango's name had seemed to freeze him in place.

He invited him in, dismissing Lama Su easily enough. And then they stood in silence, studying each other.

Ob'ika had been a little kid last time Jango had seen him, only the slightest hints of what he'd be like when grown showing through. His hair had darkened, his dimples hidden by a beard, but his skin was still light and freckled, his eyes still bright despite his obvious tiredness. 

It enraged a part of Jango to see him so at ease wearing the robes of a Jedi, using their mannerisms. And, yet, he could not be too upset. Other than Boba, this was his only aliit left in the galaxy, arrived at his doorstep just before he'd be in danger from the plots against the Jedi. The greatest luck Jango had ever been on the receiving end of, maybe.

"Bob'ika, k'olar. Urcir cuun ba'vod'ika." The three of them stared at each other, Boba and Obi-Wan seeming to match in shyness. 

"It's nice to meet you, Boba," was the reply they received, the Basic making Jango grit his teeth. "And...and it is good to see you, again...Jan'ika."

Jango smiled at that, telegraphing boldly as he reached out to pull Obi-Wan into a hug. He signed to Boba with the other, behind Obi-Wan's back.

"Ni ceta, Ob'ika," he breathed out, holding his cousin tightly. "Ni ceta."

"What--Jango, why are you sorry?"

"I couldn't save you from them. You were trapped with the Jedi and I couldn't save you."

"I wasn't, Jan'ika, I was where I needed to be. They trained me, they helped me. I don't know what would have become of me, without them."

He'd known of the dreams, anyone who'd spent any time near Obi-Wan had, but they'd been expecting him to grow out of them. And there were even disciplines within their own culture that dealt in powers beyond what the average person was born with, Jaster had been trying to get into contact with someone who could teach one.

Obi-Wan's dar'buir had not even given him the chance to explain.

"And now you've learned what you needed to and you can come back."

The way Obi-Wan stiffened, Jango knew he'd protest. He'd been with them for three decades, of course he would be indoctrinated into believing that was a good thing. It was no matter, though, because Jango knew exactly how to deal with Force users.

He focused on his very real desire to help as Boba came back into the room and handed him the hypospray under the guise of giving Obi-Wan his own, tentative hug. And their cousin was too busy smiling down at Boba in delight to notice the injection until it was over.

"Jango, what did you--"

"Don't worry, Ob'ika. This was jate'kara, finding you now. I won't let anyone steal you away from our aliit again."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando'a:  
> buir - parent  
> dar'ba'vodu - in this case former/disgraced aunt  
> dar'manda - disgraced former Mandalorian  
> -'ika - added to a name, creates a sort of cute nickname (Ob'ika, Bob'ika, Jan'ika)  
> aliit'alor - like the head of the family  
> ba'vodu - in this case, aunt  
> demagolka - basically a heinous monster  
> aliit - family/clan  
> k'olar - come here  
> urcir cuun ba'vod'ika - meet our cousin  
> ni ceta - I'm sorry  
> jate'kara - luck


	20. Obi-Wan/Alpha-17 (Soulmate AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They said nothing forged a soulbond like a shared experience.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is even less finished than my stuff in here normally is, but the ship is so rare I felt bad not putting this on AO3 lol
> 
> [Originally posted on my Tumblr.](https://manyangledone.tumblr.com/post/625670823310688256/alpha-17obi-wan-soulmate-au-snippet)

They said nothing forged a soulbond like a shared experience. Oh, two souls had to be compatible, but there were dozens, maybe hundreds, of compatible souls for each person out there. Most never got the chance to bond together.

Obi-Wan couldn’t help but find it typical that the “shared experience” he’d had was torture. He hadn’t even realized it until they’d gotten out of there, until he’d been nearly healed and the presence of Alpha-17 that he’d clung to before was still there.

When Alpha-17 showed up outside his door after he’d been discharged, he knew the other had felt it, had realized what it was, too.

“I suppose I should congratulate you on your promotion,” he teased, ushering the other inside.

Alpha-17 scoffed, but despite his gruff exterior and practiced expression, Obi-Wan knew he was nervous. Clones weren’t legally considered people, so what did it mean that they’d bonded? Normally a bond meant that the lower ranking bondmate–be it in the military, the Order, or even among most of the nobility of the galaxy–would be raised to the rank of the higher one. And it was impossible to know how the Senate, how the citizens, would react to a clone general.

“I apologize for this, sir, it must be as inconvenience.”

Obi-Wan knew Alpha-17 couldn’t actually feel it was, he’d been trained by Jango Fett and dozens of other Mandalorians. He knew culture was a part of that and soulbonds forged through any sort of major adversity were considered near-sacred. If he’d been just a normal Mandalorian, they’d be throwing a feast and bragging about it.

“It’s no inconvenience. It’s…possibly why I’m still sane.”

He felt more than saw Alpha-17’s rage and fear at the idea, as he had before he realized. Even without the Force, the bond had formed, and had been nurtured by their desperate need for the other to survive. Telegraphing his movement, Obi-Wan reached out, carefully entwining his fingers with Alpha-17s, shivering at the way the bond flared from bare skin touching.

“If nothing else, think of how many more cadets you’ll be able to terrorize, now.” His smile wasn’t half as teasing as he wanted it to be, but lightening this mood was a daunting task. “And…I’d really like to not be alone right now.”


	21. Jango/Obi-Wan (Jango survived Geonosis AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You want me to commit treason."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally [posted on my Tumblr](https://manyangledone.tumblr.com/post/625737157288558592/jangoobi-wan-you-want-me-to-do-what), a response to the ask meme prompt "You want me to do what?" for the ship.
> 
> **I am not taking unsolicited requests at this time**

"You want me to do what?"

Obi-Wan stared at Fett, trying to wrap his head around what sort of game he was playing.

"Anyone looking can see you hate this, Kenobi. You fight for the Vode's rights every chance you get. You've got the lowest casualty rate of any of you Jedi and throw yourself in front of all the shit they should be protecting you from."

"And what do you care? You're the one who got them into this situation."

Fett grimaced. "I... miscalculated how much I could handle the situation."

That rocked Obi-Wan for a moment. This was far from the first time they'd spoken, even in private--Fett had used the Republic's distraction to take over large swathes of the Mandalorian Sector and Obi-Wan was often sent to try to negotiate between Satine and Fett--but he thought this might be the only time he'd ever heard Fett admit to a mistake. Obi-Wan was a Jedi and even to any other Mand'alor that would make showing something like vulnerability unlikely, let alone one with Fett's baggage.

His voice dropped lower despite the privacy of Fett's ship and their words being in Mando'a. "You want me to commit treason."

"I want you to free slaves."

Obi-Wan flinched, but didn't deny it. "I'm going to Coruscant in two weeks. I'll get you the data you need and see what I can do from there to hide your movements as long as possible." If he could somehow convince Cody, he thought they could buy Jango a not insignificant amount of time.

"You won't be able to get away from Coruscant, when they find out what's happened."

He nodded in agreement, then paused, realizing Fett wasn't just stating a fact, but was criticizing the plan. "I know what that means, you pointed out yourself I don't shy away from sacrificing my safety for my troops."

"Which you don't have to do for this to work." Fett stepped closer, stopping when they were nearly touching, and Obi-Wan frowned down at him. 

"I'll be a wanted man."

"And you were part of the negotiations where it was confirmed True Mandalorian space doesn't have prisoner extradition with the Republic."

"You're... Offering me sanctuary?"

Fett's expression was far too smug for someone who didn't have an agreement, yet. "For the Vode. If I don't Kote might murder me and take my place."

"Somehow I think it's more than that." Obi-Wan had a slight suspicion, from what little he could get out of Fett now and prior interactions, but he wasn't about to be the one to bring it out into the open.

There was something undeniably attractive about Fett--his competence, his strength of character, and while Obi-Wan didn't spend a lot of time dwelling on such things, his dominant personality, too.

"It is," Fett easily agreed, now outright radiating that smugness. "But let's focus on saving our kids, first."


	22. Jango/Obi-Wan (Geonosis AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "This isn't exactly what I had in mind."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally [posted on my tumblr](https://manyangledone.tumblr.com/post/625738581323939840/jangoobi-wan-and-this-isnt-exactly-what-i-had) for the prompt "This isn't exactly what I had in mind."
> 
> A little racier than my normal stuff lol
> 
> **I am not taking unsolicited requests at this time**

"This isn't exactly what I had in mind."

"Are you complaining?"

Obi-Wan sucked in a breath as Fett bit down extra hard after his question, making him squirm and lose track of his own thoughts for a moment. 

"N-no."

When the Separatist droids had captured him, he'd been expecting the usual sort of torture. Fett showing up had only confirmed that. Until he led him away, instead, to some room that Dooku had prepared for him (with shielding to keep him from sensing the Force but enough material comforts it couldn't necessarily be called a cell).

Two hours later, finding it too hard to meditate cut off from the Force and with the knowledge of two armies and (if his grandmaster were to be believed) some Sith plot afoot, he'd finally tried to get more answers out of Fett.

That had ended in, well, something very different than talking or torture. Or, at least, not an unwelcome sort of torture. It was mostly his own fault, when he wasn't getting any of the details he wanted he started asking questions about the clones, their physiology, their abilities.

Fett deciding to give him an...active example of what they were working with did certainly help to pass the time.

It was going to be a shame when they had to go back to fighting each other.


	23. Jango & Obi-Wan (Random AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I know you know how to handle that kind of free fall."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally [posted on my Tumblr](https://manyangledone.tumblr.com/post/625737773389922304/you-want-me-to-do-what-jangobi) for the prompt "You want me to what?"
> 
> **I am not taking unsolicited requests at this time**

"You want me to what?"

Jango's incredulous look almost broke the mood and sent Obi-Wan into a laughing fit. He didn't think he'd ever seen that expression on his face before and it wasn't a very flattering one.

"I know you know how to handle that kind of free fall."

"With a JET PACK on! Which I clearly don't have right now."

That was true, they were both dressed in little more than rags, their impromptu capture and jailbreak leaving them without access to any of their normal supplies. Obi-Wan wouldn't want to be their captors when the Mandalorian returned for his beskar'gam.

"I'm the next best thing to a jet pack," he stated, with as much confidence as he could manage because this really was a horrible plan--but at least it WAS a plan, which was more than what Jango had managed so far. "I'm not going to let you fall, if we jump at the right angle it won't be any great thing to give us a soft landing."

Jango was mumbling something about Jedi and mental instability that Obi-Wan chose to ignore as he dragged him over towards the window. "Would it make you feel better if I said I'd done this before?"

"No! It would just make me question how you keep getting yourself, and others, into these situations!"

Obi-Wan sighed. "I didn't ask to be captured, you know." That was met with a knowing look. "Well, alright, possibly my plan to collect the information we needed was more likely than not to end in capture, but I didn't necessarily WANT it to."

"Right, because you're--"

Before Jango could finish that thought, while he was still off-guard and couldn't protest, Obi-Wan gave him a push both with his hands and the Force. He jumped soon after, pleased to see that despite his terror, Jango had managed to get into a very good position for the fall.


	24. Jango/Obi-Wan (Mandalorian Empire AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After ten years of facing the Mand'alor on the battlefield, Obi-Wan is at his mercy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally [posted on my tumblr](https://manyangledone.tumblr.com/post/625751938832777216/jangoobi-wan-i-think-you-missed-your-calling) for the prompt "I think you missed you calling."
> 
> **I am not taking unsolicited requests at this time**

"I think you missed your calling," Fett murmured, his still-gloved hand sliding through Obi-Wan's hair.

He resisted the urge to flinch, staring placidly straight ahead and focusing on other sensations--the hard floor beneath his knees, the light brush of the clothing he'd been shoved into, the too-smooth feeling of his face where they'd shaved off his beard.

The Mand'alor seemed to notice the lack of attention and his hand tightened, fisting against the strands of Obi-Wan's hair and pulling. Their eyes met and Obi-Wan felt himself caught underneath that stare.

"Look at you," Fett crooned, his hand becoming gentle once more as though he hadn't just caused Obi-Wan pain, "so pretty. I knew you would be, hiding under that prim and proper Jedi act."

Obi-Wan wished he didn't know Mando'a, that he hadn't been so thorough in his desire to understand the Empire that lurked at the edges of Republic space and became their enemy seemingly whenever the Mandalorians decided they wanted a larger war.

Or, at least, he wished Fett didn't know. But they'd faced each other on the battlefield too often for that not to have come up already--since Obi-Wan was twenty and watching his Master get cut down by a slugthrower and he'd become reckless, managing to dodge the hot metal projectiles and take down the Mandalorians holding them before Fett had caught him and it was all he could do to escape.

Ten years as opponents as the war raged across the galaxy. Sometimes he'd felt as though Fett sought him out when they were in the same system, but he'd dismissed that as some foolish flare of ego.

Now he knew better.

The Mandalorians had come to Coruscant once more, to raze down the hurt of their ancient enemy. And the Mand'alor had claimed Obi-Wan as his personal prize. There was no doubt, overhearing what the servants said as they prepared him, that this was considered a long-time coming.

"I am a proper Jedi," he replied, instead of the dozen other things he wanted to say. "How you dress me, what you do to my body, will not change that."

Instead of becoming angry, Fett just laughed at him. It was frustrating, not having enough access to the Force to sense if he was backing himself into a dangerous corner, all he had to go off of was Fett's body language and controlled expressions.

"You don't need to keep up the act, Obi-Wan, I've seen the way you come alive in battle. You're no peacekeeper, no negotiator," he said the word, a title Obi-Wan had worn for years now, as though it was a curse. "I have wondered how glorious you would have been, if we'd taken Stewjon in the last war. If you'd been raised among us."

"I doubt we would have ever even met, I would have just been one of your nameless soldiers sent to die in conquest."

Fett scoffed, giving Obi-Wan's hair enough of a tug to draw him forward as he crouched down, their faces nearly meeting. "You would have been more than that. You will be more than that. I've freed you from the Jedi, you just haven't realized it, yet."


	25. Obi-Wan Gen (Arkanis Instructor AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan will always be a thorn in the Siths' sides, no matter how much flimsywork they force on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for a prompt from an anon on my tumblr: "Obi Wan imprisoned by Sidious and Vader on Arkanis and ends up teaching at Arkanis Academy."
> 
> [Originally posted here](https://manyangledone.tumblr.com/post/625763743080529920/prompt-obi-wan-imprisoned-by-sidious-and-vader-on)
> 
> I gave the Grand Inquisitor a name because I don't think he had one in canon, but Obi-Wan would have surely known it.
> 
> **I am not taking unsolicited requests at this time**

"Sang--"

There wasn't anything Obi-Wan had planned to say after that, but he'd known he wouldn't need to. The "Grand Inquisitor" let out a noise of fury and threw the desk between them against the wall. He so hated the reminder that Obi-Wan knew exactly who he was, what he had been.

"You are here to train Inquisitors in the ways of the Force, not coddle them. They will never be effective Sith under your care."

Letting out a thoughtful sound, Obi-Wan sat back in his chair (since he no longer had a desk to lean against) and stroked his beard. "I was Darth Vader's teacher, are you saying he's not an effective Sith?"

Sang's Force presence was doing a very good approximation of snarling at Obi-Wan. They both knew Anakin had been a mess (obviously), but also knew better than to state that out loud even in a private office in Arkanis. 

"I will be informing Lord Vader of your insubordination," Sang hissed, before leaving abruptly and, as always, leaving Obi-Wan with the clean-up.

Sighing, Obi-Wan used the Force to pull his battered desk back into place and try to organize the flimsy and pads that had gone flying with it. They both knew the chances of Vader choosing to discipline him were slim. Going to Sidious would have been a better bet, but that would be an admittance of Sang's part that he couldn't handle one Jedi prisoner.

Not, Obi-Wan supposed, that he was acting like much of a prisoner anymore. The first few years he'd fought, he'd try to escape and often tried to take the younglings with him. After realizing the futility of that (Vader did not enjoy Obi-Wan pointing out the irony of having a slave tracker placed in him), he'd realized that perhaps the best he could do was sabotage the Inquisitorius. 

It was surprisingly easy, even if the younglings did Fall (and Obi-Wan couldn't blame them for that, he himself had gotten close so many times, with his far greater experience in the Light), they were left with far more independence than any of their other instructors or masters wanted. The high level of defections was a statistic that Obi-Wan took great pleasure in.

That, and doing his best to make Sang, a worse traitor in his mind than nearly any bar Vader himself, as uncomfortable as possible.

This last idea to do so had come from a few of the cadets in the non-Force related part of the Academy and Obi-Wan was quite pleased with it. "Accidental nudes" had not only clearly set Sang off, but would also need to be sent to Vader in order to explain why Obi-Wan needed punished.

He wished he could see Vader's face when he looked them over. Maybe his overworked body might finally just give out and put them all out of his misery.


	26. Jango/Obi-Wan (The Way AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan never thought he'd see Jango's face and isn't pleased at how he does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's this vast misinterpretation in more casual parts of the Mandalorian fandom that ONLY the followers of the Way of the Mandalore are actually Mandalorians (nevermind what that says about people like Bo-Katan), it's bs but gave me lots of Jangobi ideas lol

Obi-Wan first met the Mandalorian (and, while there were certainly a few Mandalorians out there in the galaxy, this one was always _the_ one to him) on his mission to Mandalore. He was seventeen, and while half as reckless as his Master still not perhaps as cautious as the Council would like, and he'd done something foolish.

That could describe any number of his missions, of course.

But that time he was in the precarious situation of having just killed two Death Watch assassins by Force jumping on one of them as they flew around with their jetpack. They had, of course, landed far away from his initial location, after he'd managed to figure out how to steer a struggling person in armor.

He'd broken his leg on the landing (the Death Watch commando had broken their neck, so he considered his injury something of a victory) and stared helplessly back towards the settlement he'd come from, wondering how long, with his not-great Force healing, it would take him to get back there and find where Satine would have gone to ground.

Despite his predicament, he hadn't been too distracted to notice someone's arrival, and he'd had the blaster from the corpse beside him out and pointed before the Mandalorian coming at him could get too close.

According to him, once Obi-Wan calmed down enough to pay attention, the Death Watch was his enemy and Obi-Wan was doing him a favor by taking them out and keeping them distracted. So he took Obi-Wan back to a nearby farmstead, also full of a bunch of Mandalorians who never showed him their faces, and helped him heal up.

He wasn't the nicest person out there, but he and Obi-Wan got along surprisingly well, their personalities an unexpected complement to one another that amused the others around them in a way that filled the room to Obi-Wan's senses.

When they parted ways, because Obi-Wan had a duty to get back to and the Mandalorian traditionalists (for that's what they were, he'd figured out on the second day, not just too paranoid to take off their armor near a stranger) knew the importance of such things.

He never thought he'd see the Mandalorian again and wrote it all off as another interesting diversion on a mission full of them.

He'd met the Mandalorian again eight months before his Naboo mission, at a bar.

While he still had his armor on, and Obi-Wan had never seen his face regardless, his Force presence was unmistakable. He was also very, very bored.

So even though Obi-Wan was supposed to be lying low as his Master collected information, he'd sauntered over with his drink, a smile on his face, and a perhaps flirtatious "hello there" falling from his lips before me could think better of it.

The Mandalorian's emotions had shifted quickly, but within a few moments he recognized Obi-Wan and instead of boredom, or aggravation, he'd settled into amusement. He'd offered Obi-Wan a seat and they'd conversed casually in Mando'a for a few hours, neither ever actually saying what they were doing there.

Though a high ranking official had gone missing the next day, so Obi-Wan had assumed he knew the Mandalorian's reason for being on planet.

The third time was also in a bar, three months _after_ the Naboo mission, when the weight of grief and responsibility, and overwhelming helplessness, dragged Obi-Wan down to trying to drown his sorrows in what was the worst whiskey that might have ever passed over his tongue.

One moment he was alone at the little back corner table he'd taken (not so bad off to not choose a strategic location), the next the Mandalorian was next to him.

He hadn't wanted sympathy from someone he knew hated Jedi and the Mandalorian hadn't offered. Instead, at some point, the comfort he gave was a rough hand job in the alley behind the bar and a comm code.

After that it was more frequent for a time, the Mandalorian seemed to travel almost as much as Obi-Wan did as a new Knight out of favor with the Council and getting all the worst assignments. They'd meet up when they could, neither ever giving details of why they were nearby, and take out whatever frustrations they had through sex. Obi-Wan didn't care that he didn't see the Mandalorian's face (well, he missed kissing, but not all that much), because he could feel him in the Force. He imagined what he would look like, the expressions that might correspond to the moods he was in, but he never asked for more than the Mandalorian could give.

It was a horrible few years and the Mandalorian was perhaps the only highlight.

But then they became busier, and Obi-Wan started to get assignments to take Anakin on, and they just sort of...stopped, eventually. One comm call after another unanswered and Obi-Wan decided that it was time to move on from such selfish matters as a steady lover.

The very first time he ever actually heard the Mandalorians name was on Kamino. There had been something hauntingly familiar about the clones he'd seen, though he couldn't place it until they were at the door, Obi-Wan staring at the Mandalorian who had clearly hastily put on his armor to answer (he could see hints of his bare wrists and tried not to think inappropriate thoughts).

The Mandalorian--Jango--had been away training a clone army. He was raising a clone as a son. The face Obi-Wan had never seen, not in a decade of knowing Jango, now surrounded him.

None of the clone soldiers wore beskar'gam. He'd seen them taking their buy'ce off with no regard for who would see their faces.

While Obi-Wan knew Jango didn't judge others for not following the Way, he had a sinking feeling he didn't even consider the clones as worthy enough sentients to do so. It was completely at odds with what Obi-Wan knew of the Tribe's stance on children, but when he considered it he knew it was most likely in line with their stance on genetic engineering. 

He'd tried to find out what was going on, who had hired Jango for the hit on Padme, anything, but it was too easy to be lulled back into their old interactions, where neither revealed anything of meaning.

Eventually he'd find out enough information to figure things out, he decided, and it had been years since he'd seen Jango. And now he knew his name and, though in a roundabout way, what he must look like, he couldn't resist staying with him a little longer.


	27. Anakin POV (getting Palpatine/Obi-Wan together AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin just wants his two best friends to be happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO FELLOW SINNERS I'M BACK ON MY BULLSHIT

It started with Anakin noticing a faint flush on Sheev's cheeks after Obi-Wan took his leave of their official meeting to allow Anakin and his friend to chat unofficially. 

He stared, knowing it was rude but not really caring.

"Do you...do you _like_ Master Obi-Wan?" He was torn, halfway between disgust and glee.

Sheev, of course, tried to deny it, but even with the Force as cloudy as it was on Coruscant, Anakin could see the lie. And even after he'd let Sheev more the conversation onto some other topic, he dwelt on what he now knew about his friend.

***

Obi-Wan was, Anakin supposed, attractive. If stuffy men pushing forty was one's type.

Padmé insisted (to the point of Anakin honestly being a little concerned) that Obi-Wan was _very_ attractive. She even made him look at posts on the Holonet of people swooning over him (how is that appropriate, Padmé? How do you even know about that???).

And, okay, so Anakin could understand it--Obi-Wan was charming, he was fit, he somehow made beige look almost good. He was smart, competent, had a great mind for politics.

Obviously someone like Sheev was going to be into that. Into him. Anakin's Master.

***

The things Anakin knew about Obi-Wan and relationships could be counted on one hand, probably. He knew (horrifically) that he slept with Vos sometimes (Vos delighted in letting him know that). He'd had a few girls he'd liked, too, growing up (or at least that's what Earin had said). 

He flirted with nearly everyone, but...did seem to _also_ really like competent people best. Even if he didn't necessarily like them as people or like what they did.

Which was good, because Anakin knew Obi-Wan really, really didn't like politicians (except Padmé, of course, because everyone liked her...and there was Organa, who he also suspected him of sleeping with, and ew he had to stop thinking about his master and sex because then he'll be thinking of Sheev and sex and _**no**_ ). 

So, even though he didn't like what Sheev did, he could look past it by seeing who Sheev was. And that was a really good person who wanted the best for the Republic, just like Obi-Wan did. And who was competent and maybe sometimes manipulative, but for people's own good, also like Obi-Wan.

Actually, now that Anakin thought about it, they'd be...kind of perfect together?

***  
Except for the whole Jedi thing, he reluctantly remembered, eventually.

Just because Padmé was okay with a secret marriage, didn't mean Sheev would be. And Obi-Wan was really into being a Jedi (could Anakin claim that was an attachment and he had to stop loving being a Jedi so much to be a better Jedi?).

Still, Anakin was in a relationship. And he _knew_ Aayla was. And he figured a few others were, too. Which meant Obi-Wan technically could be.

Should be.

With Sheev.

Who was _perfect_ for him and could maybe actually make him happy and take away some of that sadness that Obi-Wan's eyes showed when he thought no one was looking.

***

The first step in Anakin's plan (which had been a one step plan consisting of locking them in a room together until they realized they should date, but Padmé insisted it needed more steps) was to have them start seeing each other socially.

So, even though he loved his personal time with his friend, he started inviting Obi-Wan to his activities with Sheev.

Obi-Wan was really confused, and tried to back out, but when Anakin had stated it was a fancy lunch and reservations had already been made for the _three_ of them, Obi-Wan was too polite to not go.

It was hard for Anakin not to take up the whole conversation, but he _tried_. On Sabé's advice he'd set his chrono to vibrate every five minutes to remind him, if he'd been talking for awhile, to get Obi-Wan to talk some.

Sheev caught on quickly, though he did have a little more information than Obi-Wan and way more motivation, and helped. Soon he and Obi-Wan were _actually almost relaxing_ and talking about some weird political function that they'd both been forced to attend annually before the war or something.

Four "dates" in and Anakin was starting to get a little jealous, because they were focusing so much on each other and it took setting his chrono to buzz every _minute_ to keep from drawing their attention back to him.

It was for a good cause.

***  
Eventually, they started making plans _by themselves_ and Anakin was giddy to think about what they could be doing (and disgusted, also, but they always seemed to be in public so he was able to ignore that).

They did a bunch of stuff that Anakin and Sheev had never done (and Anakin and Obi-Wan had only done when Anakin was much younger and didn't know how to assert his own interests more). Like going to museums. And poetry readings. And operas.

It was all, Padmé insisted, giving Anakin a hard look he couldn't interpret, very romantic.

That was good. Sheev and Obi-Wan could both clearly use some romance in their lives.

***

According to Rabé, the Holonet was rife with rumors about Sheev and Obi-Wan, and no one took them seriously because of that. She was almost certain Sheev's PR people were the ones causing the more ridiculous rumors to offset the reasonable ones, which Anakin could agree sounded like something they'd do.

Finally, Anakin decided it had been going on long enough, and he "casually" asked Obi-Wan about it.

Maybe asking in the middle of a battle wasn't the greatest timing, but seeing his former Master nearly drop his lightsaber and have to stumble out of the way of some blaster bolts was pretty funny.

It's not like that cloak would have lasted long, anyway.

They had a long conversation (in length of time, because Obi-Wan spent long stretches of it silently sipping from a cup of tea and pretending Anakin hadn't just said something) about Sheev and Obi-Wan finally admitted that, yes, actually, Sheev was very nice and he did enjoy his company.

And then, because it was Obi-Wan and he couldn't appreciate all the things Anakin had done for him, he smirked and started talking about how _good Sheev was in bed_ and then Anakin might have fallen and hit his head.

Regardless, it was nothing some bacta couldn't fix and a few Force techniques that let him _repress, repress, repress_ a memory he really didn't want.

***

Finding out that Sheev was _the Sith Master_ was...okay, so, maybe Anakin had a _few_ hints over the years, but no one could really blame him for missing it! This was even more unexpected than finding out Mace Windu had a sense of humor (which he still didn't entirely believe)!

And, you know what, Sheev was kind of right, wasn't he? It _was_ treason for the Jedi to just walk in there and try to hurt him. He might be a Sith Lord, but he was still the Supreme Chancellor!

And Anakin's friend! And maybe sorta brother-in-law if Obi-Wan got over all this.

***

Obi-Wan, thankfully, was just restrained by his men and not caught up in the executions that were happening all over the Jedi. But of course he was, he'd never have any part in _treason_. 

When Anakin asked Sheev about that, he was assured that Obi-Wan would be fine. After all, Sheev did find his company refreshing and once Obi-Wan saw reason and fell to the Darkside he'd make a really good consort.

Sheev also maybe said something about the sex, maybe, but Anakin definitely couldn't hear that over the screaming of the Initiates, thankfully.


	28. Jango/Obi-Wan (Shadow AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan's mission was supposed to be straightforward.

"I didn't betray you, I wasn't blackmailed or mind-controlled, or whatever you've come up with," Obi-Wan muttered, glaring across at Jango (Fett, he was the enemy, he was Fett). "I was a spy from the start."

The disbelief was clear and it was, in its own way, shattering. "That's impossible. I saw you kill a jetii--"

"Quin and I have been friends, and sparring partners, since we were children. Of course we could make a fight look convincing. And none of you bothered to check the body."

Fett wasn't the only one forcing their denial into the quiet around them. It was all Obi-Wan could do to keep a cool, calm exterior together. Behind his shields, his mind was chaos.

It had been his first long mission as a Shadow, the true Trial to see if he could manage such a difficult life. Quinlan had helped him set up the fight at the beginning and then...then he'd been more or less on his own for a year, deep cover among the True Mandalorians, to help destabilize Fett's attempts to take control of the sector from the New Mandalorians.

He'd known from the start this wasn't what he'd been prepared for--they weren't a criminal gang, they weren't terrorists. Their code of honor might have seen barbaric to some societies, but it was in fact very advanced for the galaxy at large.

But when he'd made his meeting with his handler after coming to these conclusions and knowing he wasn't just being deceived as a new recruit, had tried to explain it was Death Watch that was the danger to civilians, they hadn't cared. The Order hadn't cared.

The helplessness had been worse than anything else he'd faced. To be a good Shadow, to prove his worth, he had to damage an indigenous movement that was trying to reclaim their lands.

He knew what Qui-Gon would say, and maybe that's why his former Master couldn't know he'd been recruited to the Shadows in the first place--because he would have warned Obi-Wan away.

"You were spying on us for a year," Fett finally said and Obi-Wan noticed that the room had gone silent again.

Raising his chin, attempting as much dignity as he could while tied to a chair, he confirmed that with a quick, "Yes."

"Then why didn't you destroy us? You could have, at the end." Myles snorted from beside Fett and Obi-Wan knew they were all thinking of how often Fett was naked and asleep beside Obi-Wan.

"My mission was to prevent you from gaining a foothold on more worlds, not destroy you." Technically, technically.

Fett shook his head, moving closer, a hopeful, knowing look in his eyes that Obi-Wan desperately wanted to embrace and snuff out at the same time. "Except you didn't do that, did you? You were the one who gave us all the ways to _quietly_ gain power. To make it seem like we were stagnating to the outside world." He loomed over Obi-Wan now, smirking. "To the Jedi and their Senate."

Obi-Wan sucked in a breath. "No, I--"

"You weren't just some undercover spy, Ben. You were one of us. You saw what Kryze and her people are doing and you believed in our cause."

The fervor Jango spoke with was the reason Ben could initially believe there was something more going on. He was so passionate, so sure of their righteousness. He could have been just a zealot extremist.

Except he wasn't. He _was_ right. And Obi-Wan felt some of his mask cracking under the weight of that.

The Haat'ade had thought the New Mandalorians had forced his hand, somehow. They'd come to _rescue_ him and instead found him walking in a garden flirting with Satine. They'd still grabbed him with surprising care, but they'd been angry and confused.

Now they looked more relaxed and it was setting Obi-Wan on edge.

"I'm a Jedi, I was given a mission and I--"

"Purposefully botched it to protect us."

" _No_ ," he choked out, eyes wide with panic as Jango undid the bindings around his wrists like he shouldn't still be a prisoner.

And then there were hands on the side of his face, Jango's lips brushing his. "It's alright, to be confused. You thought they were good, that what they made you do was the right thing. Now you know better."

Force help him, he did.


	29. Obi-Wan Gen (Sithspawn!Stewjoni AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dooku knew what Obi-Wan was and decided to share that with at least one of his allies.

When one of his current captors leered at Obi-Wan as he turned in his bonds, he had that familiar dread of a bad feeling.

"I didn't think your kind ever left your planet," Fett commented as though this was some everyday event for him. "That's quite an extensive amount of work you've had, to look so human."

And it was, he knew, from before he was old enough to even know what was going on all the way until he was fully grown. Eyes, ears, teeth, nails, throat, removing spines from his back, placing artificial dummy organs to fool scanners, tattoos of veins and arteries because of how pale his skin could be. It had all served him well through decades of kidnappings and captures, of slavers and darksiders.

He stayed silent, watching the bounty hunter carefully. Had Dooku told him? He must have always known, already a Master when Obi-Wan was reluctantly brought to the Order. Or maybe Qui-Gon had told him, during one of the moments he struggled between accepting what was natural within the Living Force and knowing Obi-Wan wouldn't be safe unless he had another operation, let his body be disfigured in some new way.

"Why did the jetiise have you?"

There was something he couldn't quite place in Fett's tone and without being able to see his face and with the electric shocks keeping him from accessing the Force, he wasn't sure if he would guess right. It almost seemed like Fett was _concerned_ , but that hardly made any sense.

"I'm a Force user powerful enough to be trained." That wasn't anything Fett couldn't have figured out on his own or that Dooku didn't know.

But Fett seemed to scoff at him. "They wouldn't have given you over because of the Force."

For some reason, he was invested in this. There was some need for him to know about Obi-Wan's past. He _was_ a Mandalorian, but Satine had been as well, and he doubted she would have been so interested.

"I nearly died. I had been trapped in a vision, in a coma, for two months before they called the Jedi and gave me into their care."

"And the first thing _they_ did was mutilate a child?"

He wondered if this was the issue that Fett had. "Outside of the very high price I'd be worth on the slave markets, technically it was illegal for them to bring me onto Coruscant...or most other planets where I could have had formal training." When he turned back around to face Fett, he gave him a pointed look. "We're classified as bioweapons first, sentients second."

The first time he'd been called "sithspawn" and realized the other hadn't _actually_ meant it had been quite the revelation. 

Another long quiet greeted him and Obi-Wan started mentally working through his possible escapes again.

"That wasn't true, when Stewjon was part of Mandalore."

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes, though he wasn't facing Fett and the motion was probably lost to all but whoever was monitoring the room. "That's ancient history."

"It doesn't have to be."

As if some door had been shut in his mind and just flung itself open, Obi-Wan realized exactly who "Jango Fett" must be. The supposed Mand'alor, traditionally the sole ruler Mandalore. Who was taking some major role in what was clearly a plot against the Republic and possibly the Jedi Order itself.

"If you're wanting a political relationship with Stewjon, I assure you its sole Jedi citizen does not have such authority."

He'd gone back thrice in his entire life, more for his safety and the safety of others during certain developmental periods than to reconnect with his culture. They were uncomfortable reminders that he was foreign to them and that even if they reversed everything done to him that could be reversed, he'd never really be Stewjoni in their minds.

Perhaps it was one reason he tried so hard to fit in with the humans around him, memorizing micro-expressions and reactions, mimicking even the emotions he couldn't quite grasp.

"The Jedi will fall," Fett finally stated, such surety in his voice it made Obi-Wan feel cold inside. "And the safety they give you with them." He was moving, now, following Obi-Wan around the room so he could watch his face without interfering with the equipment. "Dooku told you about the Sith. Would you want to be as your ancestors were at the beginning, a slave to them?"

"I suppose this is where you offer me an alternative?"

"The others here aren't the only ones with plans."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I write humanoid aliens I make them really alien lol I've got a lot of Ideas for Stewjon, but in case it wasn't obvious, they're literally sithspawn, as in Sith experimented on them.
> 
> ETA: [Here's some more detailed headcanons](https://manyangledone.tumblr.com/post/626383944824291328/some-alienstewjoni-headcanons)


	30. Palpatine/Obi-Wan (Marriage AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Obi-Wan agreed to a political marriage with the Chancellor, he didn't think he'd end up with an Emperor, instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One last bit of Order 66 related Palpatine/Obi-Wan before trying to do a sequel to one of these and get to AFTER the Order 66 stuff lol

"Think how this will help the Order, Obi-Wan. You're needed here more than on the front, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan muttered to himself as he continued to stun and knock out the guards around him, working his way towards the Chancellor's office. All around him were screams, the Force echoing with _pain_ and _loss_.

His only advantage was whatever the _kriff_ was wrong with the clones, they weren't attacking _him_.

When he finally reached the office, it was in time to see Sheev and Anakin murdering Mace Windu and...and even though Mace was one of the people who got him _into_ this mess, it still hurt to see. Mace had been a staple of the Order since Obi-Wan was a child.

"Ah, I thought you would be at home, my dear."

He Force pulled Mace's discarded lightsaber to his hand, lighting it. "I want a divorce, _honey_ ," he ground out.

Sheev-- _Sidious_ , Obi-Wan realized, feeling sick--had the nerve to chuckle as though Obi-Wan had made a joke. "Now, now, Obi, there's no reason to jump to such extremes."

"You just _murdered my family_!"

"As far as in-laws go, they were quite...difficult."

Obi-Wan had never thought there'd be a worse moment in this weird, half-political half-romantic (or so he thought) marriage than that time Anakin had called him "mom," but here he was.

"I _hate_ you."

That just earned him a wholly infuriating smile. "You should, Obi-Wan, hate me with all your heart--I've killed your family, enslaved your friends, turned your Padawan."

Sheev was walking towards him and Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes, his confusion knocking some sense back into him as he realized what was happening. "I'm not _Falling_ for you. You're not that good in bed!"

Anakin was making a choking sound off to the side but, really, it served him right. He couldn't be half as traumatized as Obi-Wan was from knowing he'd _married_ and been _kriffing_ a Sith Lord for the last year.

All he'd wanted was to help the Order get the Senate off their backs and get some political power to help the troopers, when the Council dug up some old law on the books that united the Chancellor and Jedi he'd been talked into it.

They should have all known nothing with the Senate would ever be so easy.

"Obi-Wan, dearest, think this through--think of all the good you can do as consort to a galactic Emperor."

"Consort?! _Consort_?! You won't even give me co-rule but you expect me to betray everything I care about?"

"Hey, you care about me and Sheev, too!" Anakin interrupted, flinching back when both of them glared at him. 

Sheev looked abashed, which was probably a complete lie. "Would you...like co-rule? I just assumed, given your dislike of politics...."

He scowled. "Don't even pretend like you'd consider it. Everyone knows Sith Lords don't share power." His eyes flicked back to Anakin. " _Almost_ everyone."

"Hey!"

"Obi-Wan, I did this for everyone's own good. The Republic was stagnating. Look how easy it was to convince them to go to war, to use a _slave army_ for it."

"You want me to believe you mean well? Undo whatever you did to that army and give them citizenship and freedom." Sheev hesitated and Obi-Wan nodded, knowingly. "You won't, even without Dooku breathing down your neck."

Sheev glared and very purposefully stalked back over to his comm. After a few seconds, Commander Cody appeared and Obi-Wan flinched at the blank look on his old 2IC's face.

"Commander, rescind Order 66 and return to normal operation." 

He was speaking to Cody, but looking right at Obi-Wan as he did so. For a moment, Cody seemed frozen, and then as though a switch had been flipped in his head, his emotions were showing again. He acknowledged Sheev's knew directive and, just like that, was gone to supposedly send the order down the chain of command.

Obi-Wan stared, mind racing, before he turned around (and maybe giving Sheev his back was a bad idea, but if he didn't want a divorce he probably didn't want Obi-Wan dead) and glancing out in the hallway. The guard there were shaking their heads and coming back to themselves, in the Force they started to feel unique again, like people.

So maybe Sheev _was_ willing to compromise on some things. Which...meant that Obi-Wan should stick around and not divorce him, take half his holdings (as was standard under the law on Naboo), and get out of there.

Sheev seemed to realize the conclusion Obi-Wan was coming to because he was smiling, welcoming and warm, an utter lie. "We'll do so much _good_ together, Obi-Wan, you'll see. Why don't you come with me to the Senate while Anakin and his men go to check on the Temple?"

He hesitated, but Anakin seemed to be getting himself under control again, even if his eyes were still a very unflattering yellow. He supposed he could trust him and the 501st to take care of whatever might be going on there.

"Fine. But we _will_ be discussing this in more detail once everything calms down."

"Of course, my love. I'd never expect anything less than thoroughness from you."


	31. Obi-Wan & Abeloth (Sithspawn!Stewjoni AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan and a team of other Knights investigate a recently found station.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW induced eating disorder

Obi-Wan was unable to stop the soft trill that crawled out of his throat, squeezing his eyes shut as he felt the Force presence move through him. He could only be thankful that no one had followed him when he'd wandered off.

His teammates were in danger, there was no doubt of that, but Obi-Wan couldn't bring himself to warn them. 

Ever since finding their way to Centerpoint Station, he'd felt...different. His instincts constantly threatening to overpower his finely honed control. He felt as he did in the first days after returning from a visit to his homeworld, everyone around him feeling more like _prey_ than people.

And he was so, so hungry.

"Little one," a voice crooned, though he knew it was in his head. "Poor little one. What have they done to you?"

He could not let himself answer, whatever this was, it was the danger that was coming for the other Jedi. 

Why did it not feel like a danger to him?

***

He watched his teammates as they grew agitated, as the Dark that seeped in around them set them on edge.

The Dark had never been Obi-Wan's weakness, it could not grasp onto him, could not settle in the recesses of his mind and fester. 

No, it was his own instincts that he fought now, to grip the nearest ~~prey~~ person and feed. To feel the Force within them flow into him, reviving and restoring.

He'd only ever fed in such a way twice. Not since reaching full maturity. And he refused to do so to them.

They just made it so _hard_ not to, their weakness and fear filling the station.

How had he ever thought he was effective at pretending to be human?

***

The rations tasted like ash on his tongue. He couldn't keep any of them down. 

He'd never had a problem with physical food, never been this unsatisfied. The others thought he was sick. 

They couldn't know what he was.

***

Limbs--tentacles, he thought, when he managed to focus--stroked over his cheeks, caressing. 

He couldn't remember how he'd gotten here, he'd been in one of the common rooms, trying to talk reason to one of the others, and then...something.

He wasn't hungry anymore.

"Who are you?" he whispered, words of song instead of Basic.

The hold on him seemed more solid once it was acknowledged. "I am called Abeloth," she whispered through his thoughts.

Obi-Wan felt a chill go down his back, muscles shifting in ways that would have brought his spines to attention if he'd still had them. That was a name from the stories he'd been told while still in the nest, of a Mother so desperate to stay with her children that she'd driven them away.

It was a tale of attachment being someone's downfall, Obi-Wan had always thought, and feeling the sucking desperation of her loneliness he decided his interpretation might have been true.

What was the difference, though, between what she was and what he was, except for that his ancestors had not known what they were offered? 

His parents had only let him go when none of the others of his clutch survived, when they knew he too would die without training. The three of them had been as close to crying as their kind could manage when he was taken from them.

And yet they were called monsters, as she was.

"The others?"

"You're so sweet," she crooned, pulling him in closer, tighter. "You were starving, you didn't need to be."

That...didn't sound right.

The Force around him was Dark as it was at home, cradling him even if it couldn't use him. He closed his eyes again, watching her with other senses as she reached out and called more to her, to the station.

They'd be hungry again, soon enough.


	32. Obi-Wan & Anakin & OC Gen (Sithspawn!Stewjoni AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a rough, draining mission, Obi-Wan and Anakin visit Stewjon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> None of these ones are necessarily in the same verse as far as storylines go, [just in the take on the Stewjoni.](https://manyangledone.tumblr.com/tagged/bioweapon+stewjoni)

Obi-Wan didn't particularly want to take Anakin to Stewjon, but it would be a quick trip and after their last mission, his Padawan was particularly clingy.

Other Masters might use that as a reason _to_ leave Anakin back at the Temple, in hopes that it would make him understand his attachment was unnecessary, but Obi-Wan knew enough after seven years of raising him that Anakin would only become _worse_ if Obi-Wan left without him, especially since he was going far enough their bond would be useless.

So, here they were, with Obi-Wan patiently trying to explain every warning sign that Anakin should get back to the ship and lock himself inside and every way that he might avoid needing to do that. And Anakin was attentive, of course, he was always a good student, but he was too fascinated at the idea of seeing Obi-Wan's people to have the proper level of wariness.

His Force signature was all over Anakin, they had a strong bond, Obi-Wan just had to keep assuring himself the others would notice that and stay away. And it would be stronger than usual, on top of that, as he did his best to reinforce Anakin's own shields against the Dark nexus that was Stewjon. 

He'd done his best to explain Anakin, eventually calling him something like his own child--there were a few adoptions of other species mentioned in their history and they were respected.

"Sister!" a voice called in raspy Basic as soon as they departed, all the warning he had before another body slammed into him.

He gripped Mia-Wan closely, rubbing his cheek against hers, ignoring Anakin's confusion for only a moment. "Brother, technically. The Order decided to have me appear as a male human," he reminded her.

Anakin made a noise, his surprise echoing in the bond, and Obi-Wan realized he'd never really discussed his own gender with him, despite going through the typical cautious questioning of whether Anakin would need assistance with any sort of transitioning. It was an unimportant concept to his kind outside of breeding, the Stewjoni language lacking any gender-based wording.

"Male," Mia-Wan said the word like she was tasting it for the first time and she might have been--they never spoke Basic when it was just Obi-Wan there, but he'd warned them Anakin would be coming.

"Ani, this is my sibling, Mia-Wan. And this is my Padawan, Anakin."

His sibling was a little shorter than him, bare chest showing off hardened musculature that was identifiable to the practiced eye as only near-human. Her eyes were as his had once been, pure molten gold with small pupils, her claws long and sharp, her teeth pointed. Behind her was a proud, though relaxed, crest of spines in blue-green-grey as his had been--they'd matched his humanoid irises to them, a way of letting him keep something of his past form.

"Wizard," Anakin breathed out and Obi-Wan relaxed a little. "Obi-Wan barely talks about his family. I'm an only child so I never had siblings!"

Mia-Wan cocked her head to the side, blinking slowly, letting Obi-Wan know she was already liking his Padawan. "We are not clutch-mates, but two of our parents were the same."

" _Two_?"

Obi-Wan cleared his throat. "I haven't spoken to Anakin of the particulars of our procreation, given that it won't come up."

She scoffed, the noise like glass shattering. "You may have been changed, but all know you as powerful and the changes taking only your surface. If you wished, you could carry many clutches."

And now Anakin was giggling and probably never going to let him forget this. "Tiny little Obi-Wan's running around? Mace would abandon the Order and go live on Ilum permanently just for some peace!"

"I'll have you know I was an _adorable_ child!"

"He was. Extra small, very cuddly. He would cling to us whenever we tried to leave our home and insist he was big and should come hunt." She has a gleam in the Force that made Obi-Wan's stomach drop. "Once he managed to escape and he--"

"Mia-Wan--"

"--climbed a tree so he could pounce his prey from a great height--"

" _Mia-Wan_."

"--his spines caught in the bark and he was trapped on the trunk of the tree, squirming around. It was so cute. We found him hours later and he was so annoyed."

Anakin was buzzing, clutching onto Obi-Wan's arm and watching Mia-Wan with wide eyes. "He wasn't upset?"

She laughed, though Obi-Wan had to nudge the feeling of her mirth through his bond so that Anakin would understand the sound. His kind may learn Basic and other popular languages for trade, but he was the only one who bothered to mimic their full range of emoting. 

"Oh, no, Obi-Wan was never upset. Only ever deeply disappointed in the world or the rest of us, or himself, of course."

Now it was Anakin laughing, the sound surprising Obi-Wan after so long without it during their last mission and its aftermath. Maybe, he decided, despite the danger of bringing a human to Stewjon, and the utter embarrassment of the stories from his first years of life, this would work out.


	33. Obi-Wan (past Pre/Obi-Wan, past Satine/Obi-Wan) (Kamino AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan gets a tour and meets some people he would have really rather left in the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on me wondering what it would be like if Obi-Wan had met any of the Cuy'val Dar back when he was on his Mandalore mission.
> 
> Cracky.
> 
> Dedicated to TheAceApples

Obi-Wan gave a tight smile at Fett as he was led deeper into the facility. He shouldn't have bothered asking after the "trainers" when they were mentioned, but Fett didn't know _he_ knew Mando'a and, well, Obi-Wan was curious about who could possibly want to be called "Cuy'val Dar."

" _Ben'ika?_ " The shout caught him off guard, pulling him out of his attempts to figure out what was going on, and cold dread washed over him.

"...Reau, how many times do I have to ask you not to call me that?"

And it was worse, it wasn't just Reau--right behind her was Priest. Two of the last people he expected to meet in Jango Fett's company. And two of the last people he ever wanted to see.

She flung herself at him and he, knowing that pulling out his lightsaber and stabbing her would probably be a bad idea, tried to side step while not hitting into Fett, who had frozen in confusion.

"Su cuy'gar, Ben'ika!" she cried when she finally caught him, forcing him into an awkward, too-tight hug as his arms continued to hang at his sides.

Over her shoulder, he and Priest glared at each other.

"Su briikase ti ibic aruetii?" Priest only sounded half as outraged as Obi-Wan was expecting.

"Nu'aruetii, ratiin jetii, or'diniise nakar'mir."

He thought he heard Fett let out of choking noise and thought the other probably wished he was hidden behind his buy'ce. They both knew by now he was the bounty hunter that Obi-Wan had come here chasing.

"Nu draar! Gar mandokarla, gar ru'go'naasir ba'jetiise." Reau's smile became flirtatious and he inwardly groaned. "Mesh'la ret'gar Kyr'tsad."

"Ret'ni mesh'la nari kyr'amur Kyr'tsad." 

"You three know each other?" One of the other people--trainers, Cuy'val Dar, Obi-Wan realized, was watching them in interest.

"I spied on Death Watch while on a mission in Mandalore," Obi-Wan supplied, Priest glaring and Reau pouting. 

"You're fluent in Mando'a?" Fett asked from beside him, keeping his face blank in a way that was far more severe than a glare could be.

"...'Lek," he confirmed, watching Fett's jaw clench.

"Ben'ika spent a lot of time around us," Reau provided, incapable of ever just letting things go. "If it weren't for that dar'manda Kryze we could have had him."

Obi-Wan took a deep, settling breath. "I assure you, Satine was not the deciding factor in my joining _Death Watch_ or not."

"Yeah, because it's not like you were fucking Vizsla or anything, when you weren't fucking that New Mandalorian hut'uun," Priest muttered and the tension around them increased yet again.

Pushing Reau away, resisting the urge to stutter at the accusation and instead reminding himself he was not a seventeen year old boy, but a Jedi Knight on his way to Mastery. He would not like _Dred Priest_ of all people make him lose his composure.

"I had sex with him _once_ and it was purely for informational purposes."

He glanced at Fett, not surprised to find his face still largely emotionless. It was Fett who had brought Death Watch members here, presumably, and so he couldn't be incapable of dealing with their eccentricities. 

"He was already talking about riduurok," Reau sighed, as if she found the whole thing romantic.

"Vizsla has never been capable of approaching a situation with the right amount of energy. I smiled at him a few times while _spying on him for the New Mandalorians_ and he decided it was love. If I didn't need that information so badly, I would have gutted him in his bunk and left him for dead."

Fett snorted and Obi-Wan, out of the corner of his eyes, caught him making hand motions at some of the other trainers. Thankfully, it was to get rid of Priest and Reau, and Obi-Wan could let himself relax (as much as he could, in the seat of what he was fairly sure was an anti-Jedi conspiracy).

"Vizsla _and_ Kryze?" was, for some reason, the first thing Fett thought to ask.

Obi-Wan's eyes flicked down to the sleeves that Fett had rolled up in his apartment when they were first speaking and licked his lips. "Perhaps the Haat'ade should have some representation? For comparison purposes?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando'a:  
> (let's pretend like it's fluent lol)
> 
> Su cuy'gar - hello ("you're still alive)  
> Su briikase ti ibic aruetii - still happy with this traitor  
> Nu'aruetii, ratiin jetii, or'diniise nakar'mir - not a traitor, always a Jedi, you fools didn't notice.  
> buy'ce - distinctive Mandalorian helmet with the T-shaped visor  
> Nu draar! Gar mandokarla, gar ru'go'naasir ba'jetiise. - No way! You have the right stuff to be a Mandalorian, you were wasted on the Jedi.  
> Mesh'la ret'gar Kyr'tsadii. - You would be beautiful in Death Watch  
> Ret'ni mesh'la nari kyr'amur Kyr'tsad - Maybe I would be beautiful killing Death Watch  
> 'Lek - yeah  
> dar'manda - a disgraced Mandalorian/no longer Mandalorian  
> hut'uun - coward  
> riduurok - marriage


	34. Onesided Jango/Obi-Wan (Alpha-17/Obi-Wan established)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alpha-17 was nothing but a lesser copy of Jango, there was no reason for Kenobi to prefer him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm made an off-hand comment about this setup on the Sunflare discord and TheAceApples asked for something off of it lol

Jango had known he wanted Kenobi from the moment they spoke in his rooms on Kamino, when he saw the slightest flicker of understanding when Jango spoke in Mando'a to Boba. 

At first, that want had been a limited thing, a one-off attempt at bringing an odd Jedi to his knees. It was natural to flirt with him, nearly as natural as it was to fight with him, and if his ever-growing interest in Kenobi kept him out of the worst of the fighting on Geonosis and possibly saved his life, well, that was probably as the Manda willed.

He knew Kenobi's type, though, and knew they'd started off on the wrong foot, so he planned out a slow seduction. The clones helped, giving them a reason to interact, and if Kenobi ending up being _that Jedi_ that followed Kryze around during the worst of the civil war, well, Jango got over it quickly enough by realizing there was no way Kenobi would ever be a New Mandalorian.

The first few months were rough, Jango avoiding sleeping with others so Kenobi wouldn't sense it somehow and think his interest was for a casual fling. Jango was a parent, now, and Boba liked Kenobi, too.

So did the clones, which would have been fine, except Kenobi liked them back. He was just as tender with the cadets as he was with Boba or any of the Padawans. He was understanding, self-sacrificing, fiercely protective. If it was over real children, Jango would be practically drooling.

Maybe it was believing that Kenobi thought of the clones as children that kept Jango from noticing, at first. Watching the Jedi and Alpha-17 interact, he'd dismissed any lingering touches, the way they leaned into each other, the way Alpha--a clone he'd trained himself to be ruthless and cold as Hoth--was tender with Kenobi.

When he caught them kissing in the back of a transport, he couldn't exactly keep lying to himself.

The Alphas were barely any different from Jango--younger, obviously, slightly better immune systems, some genetic predispositions for defects removed where they could be caught, but the _same_. Just...clones. Lesser copies of Jango, with barely any life experience. Trained to be weapons.

They weren't _people_ like Jango and Kenobi were, they definitely weren't fit to be lovers for even a Jedi, but especially the Jedi that Jango had decided on keeping.

He let himself believe that Kenobi was using Alpha because he was the closest he believed he could get to Jango. So Jango made himself more available, more obvious.

Sometimes he thought Kenobi seemed flattered, but he didn't once reciprocate, instead spending more time with the clone. The clone of _Jango_ , who was only as capable as he was because _Jango_ taught him.

Jango was getting very close to finding a way to kill Alpha-17 off, but then he had to worry that Kenobi would move on to someone like _Kote_ , which would be an even greater insult. That clone had been engineered to be an obedient, docile pet, at least Alpha-17 had some fire in him.

Finally, after months of doing his best to make sure Alpha and Kenobi's schedules didn't match up, he decided to just confront him. He wouldn't let Kenobi settle for some pale imitation of himself.

"While it's a relief that you're concerned about one of the soldier's personal lives, I don't particularly wish to discuss my relationship with anyone, in truth," Kenobi said, in that awful Coruscanti Basic he affected outside of Mando'a.

Jango gritted his teeth, reminding himself that Kenobi liked the clones and saying the truth about what they were would not get him any points. "Alpha is your subordinate, though, is it proper to be with him?" 

The look on Kenobi's face said he'd thought of that and it did unsettle him as much as Jango thought it would. "He's a trainer, now, he's not under my direct command. Not anymore than you are, technically."

"I'm on temporary contract, I can leave whenever I want to--Alpha can't. He has no say in what he does, where he's assigned. He was created to serve."

"For now." There was a fierce bite behind Kenobi's words, a reflection of the person behind the Jedi facade that Jango was attracted to. "Slavery is illegal in the Republic. All these exceptions they're making for the war won't hold up once it's over."

He had to hold back a laugh, that anyone actually believed the war would end with a triumphant, intact Republic. Instead, he did his best to look serious and understanding.

"Kenobi...whatever happens after the war, whenever that is, that doesn't change what he is _now_."

And he knew Kenobi was dwelling on it, that his words confirmed his own thoughts about the clones. He could see the tension building between Kenobi and Alpha-17 and watched carefully, waiting for the moment he could swoop in and take Kenobi for himself.

It meant he was just down the hall as they fought, Alpha's rage making him louder than normal, Kenobi's own voice starting to rise in answer.

Just as he thought, this was it, finally, something shifted. Alpha was slamming Kenobi against the wall, but instead of fighting him off, Kenobi was leaning his head down towards him.

And then they were kissing in front of Jango. _Again_.

He went and destroyed a few Republic-supplied training droids, as confused by Kenobi as he was angry at the clone. He'd work out something, eventually. And if he didn't, he reminded himself, it wouldn't matter. Eventually the Sith would make their move and no Jedi left would trust a clone again.


	35. Jango/Obi-Wan (Kamino Meeting AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jango's mind stalled for a moment, thinking of all of the Holonet jokes that were made about this exact scenario.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo, the joke is that the scenario that Jango and Obi-Wan are in on Kamino seems like some sort of porn scenario.

There was a Jedi at his door, on a mysterious planet, investigating him for a mission. The Jedi was wet from the rain of Kamino, politely intense, and incredibly good looking.

Jango's mind stalled for a moment, thinking of all of the Holonet jokes that were made about this exact scenario. He almost thought the Cuy'val Dar might be playing some sort of trick on him, with such an obvious setup, but of course they wouldn't get any of the Kaminoans involved with that. Or be able to bring someone _to_ Kamino for it.

No, for as much as this was _exactly like a thousand pornos_ , this was actually happening.

The Jedi didn't even seem to realize it, at least not when they were _left alone_ like their lives were suddenly following a bad script.

When Jango started rolling up his sleeves, just to see what the Jedi would do, he didn't miss the way those pretty eyes flickered over his forearms, the way a tongue flicked out over those soft-looking lips. The Jedi's pale skin did nothing to hide the slow building flush as just like that, he also must have realized what this looked like.

"This is," the Jedi stumbled over his words for a moment, "an actual investigation." His eyes flicked over to the closet that held his beskar'gam. "As you know."

Jango laughed, the sound low and full of the possibilities still running through his mind. "That's a shame."

The Jedi--Kenobi, he remembered, he really should start calling him by a name if they were doing what Jango hoped they would--took a deep breath, which was shakier than he surely wanted it to be. "...You know those are...they're fiction."

"But this isn't, is it?" 

He took another step in, crowding Kenobi's personal space, letting the shields he always maintained slip just enough for his growing interest to slip out. Jedi could be easy to influence using emotions, if they let themselves be.

"I--you--You don't like Jedi."

Jango shrugged. "I've got a reason not to. Didn't stop me much from knowing what this looks like."

Everyone who liked porn holos had probably seen at least one of the Jedi-themed ones. They were fascinating creatures that could look like any species, so they could easily appeal to anyone. They wore layers that made it look like their partners were _unwrapping_ them. And they had powers that could _probably_ be used during sex. 

There were probably more Jedi pornos out there than Twi'lek ones.

"...I'm in the middle of an investigation."

"That brought you here, to me. You can't move on much if I don't."

Kenobi narrowed his eyes, still not moving away, still not saying _no_. "So if we're both here in the morning...what will that mean for my investigation?"

Jango smirked, looking up at him. "I'll be in a better mood, maybe that makes me more talkative."

"Oya," Kenobi breathed out, some sort of Concordian accent behind the Mando'a word, and Jango knew this was a very, very good idea.


	36. Alpha-17/Obi-Wan (Jango Lived AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The clones were a trap for the Sith as much as they were for the Jedi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a day where I was accepting Alpha-17/Obi-Wan prompts on tumblr, this came from the prompt, "The Mandalorians take Coruscant. Alpha-17 claims Obi-Wan for his own."
> 
> I created a Discord for my fics--WIP, drabbles, etc. It will have discussion, spoilers, bits of the drafts, that sort of thing. I'm still fiddling with it, but people can join [here](https://discord.gg/pKubwg).

From the Jedi Council chambers, Coruscant spread out before them, the fires still raging from their onslaught. Alpha had been the one to suggest the location, while studying maps and architectural notes on the planet, and he was pleased at how well it worked out.

Their surviving opponents, the ones _worth_ keeping alive, were arrayed so they could watch their home's destruction. Nothing would ever make up for what the Republic had done to Mandalore, of what the New Mandalorians had reaped against their culture, but this was the first step.

His buir had wanted these few to feel the hopelessness that the Mando'ade had felt for so long. To appreciate their resilience, and ruthlessness.

For Alpha-17, it was perhaps a little more personal--he'd been as much a sleeper agent as all the Vod'e at the beginning of the war the Sith Lords brought, his memories suppressed so that he could work with the Jedi without them ever sensing something was amiss.

Even once he'd been awoken from that state, remembered the true plan Jango had for his children, there had been three Jedi that Alpha-17...had not entirely hated.

Shaak Ti had been captured on Kamino and was being kept in stasis--one of the pods that had been used for Alpha-17 and the other ARCs when they'd first met. Skywalker...he had sided with the Sith and had been taken out alongside them, his mind too twisted with Force kriff for him to hear reason.

Neither of them would have been Alpha's to claim, regardless. There were other Vod'e closer to them.

Perhaps Kote would say there were other Vod'e closer to Obi-Wan, as well, but Alpha-17 was willing to pull rank in this case. He'd seen him first, had worked with him first, had been the one to comfort him on those first long nights after they'd escaped Ventress.

Then, Obi-Wan had been a Knight, one surprisingly competent in war. He'd been brilliant in battle, clever in covert operations, and Alpha-17 had felt closer to him in those moments than he'd ever felt to anyone.

Now, he was a Master and a Councilor. Had been forced to compromise himself in even worse ways to adhere to what the Jedi wanted from him.

There were very few Jedi left to enforce that conditioning, now. And Alpha planned to break Obi-Wan of it, to remind him who he was, _what_ he should have been. 

The first step had already been accomplished, Obi-Wan was well aware that the Chancellor had been a Sith, that the war had been a lie. And he'd seen Skywalker running around with creepy yellow eyes working for him.

At the moment, Windu, missing an arm and battered, was trying to enter into some sort of verbal battle with Jango, as if the Mand'alor would feel any need to do so. The few remaining Senators being held near him were backing him up, equally ineffectual. 

Obi-Wan, by far the most likely to be able to move Jango into acknowlegding him if only because of the fluent Mando'a that flowed from his lips so sweetly with the Concord Dawn accent he'd picked up from the Vod'e, stayed silent.

As a sign of approval, Alpha-17 brought him a ration bar and a canteen, finally allowing himself to check for the injuries that the medics had already assured him weren't bad. 

"How did we not notice?" Obi-Wan murmured as he watched him, most likely being rhetorical.

"We were trained to suppress our knowledge of the greater plan. Our true feelings about what was going on." Alpha-17 smirked. "You knew the whole thing was some sort of trap from the beginning, are you surprised to find out you were right?"

Obi-Wan's eyes squeezed shut, but just for a moment, before opening again and shining as fiercely as they ever did in a physical fight. "Everything was fake? Everything you felt, everything you did?"

That sort of thinking couldn't be allowed to continue and Alpha-17 grabbed Obi-Wan's chin, leaning in, letting his own intensity and honesty flow off of him in waves. "Not everything. Not with _you_."

There was a quick intake of breath at his words, his conviction, and Obi-Wan seemed to waver for a moment before settling himself again. Alpha-17 had never wanted to be a Jedi, but he wished he was capable of the bonds they spoke of, that he and Obi-Wan could have tied themselves together and he could see through his facade to what he was truly feeling.

Speeches were not his thing, quick advice and a beating if it wasn't followed had been his method of teaching, but Obi-Wan didn't learn that way. Alpha-17 had already worked out the angle of what he'd say, had run it by Kote, Boil and Waxer, Rex, whatever Vod'e he could speak to who knew Obi-Wan at the time they were finally awakening. 

"You love Mandalore. Not the false Mandalore of the New Mandalorians, but the real one--the culture, the language, the people." Obi-Wan watched him, not trying to deny it. "If that was all you had, if there'd been no Jedi Order for you and you were Mando'ad, what would you have done to preserve it? To stop the genocide the Republic was sponsoring?"

"So to stop the genocide against your people, you've committed one against mine."

"Are all of you dead? Are you incapable of rebuilding?" he challenged, even though he knew Jango would never allow the Jedi to remain what they were.

But it was working. Obi-Wan, who hadn't slept in at least three days, who had watched the boy he'd raised betray him and be killed, who had found out the slave army he'd reluctantly led were the trap he'd suspected, was as vulnerable in mind as he was in body at the moment.

Alpha-17 brushed back the lock of hair that always wanted to flop into Obi-Wan's eyes, his callused fingers caressing the face he'd memorized two years before and held in his mind on lonely nights. "Focus on surviving right now, see what the new world we're building will be like."

Maybe it wasn't the most romantic way of asking Obi-Wan to give him a chance, but it was one he meant sincerely. Obi-Wan was _good_ at surviving and even better at reading a situation. Once he knew the world would be a better place for him, he'd come around.


	37. Alpha-17 & Obi-Wan (Gen)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kenobi has always been the best of the Jedi generals, Alpha-17 finds out why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had people in [the discord for my fanfic](https://discord.gg/KGVqMGm) for like a day and already I'm getting inspiration for stuff haha

Alpha-17 didn't think much of the Jedi, for all they'd been made for them. He'd had too much instruction directly from Jango Fett to think they'd be worthy of the army they were getting. 

It was why he was pleasantly surprised when General Kenobi ended up...not being completely worthless. He'd understood war like it was an instinct for him, slotting into the army like a perfectly sized space had been planned the whole time.

That gave Alpha-17 hope...up until he started working with the other Jedi. Skywalker was one thing, he was a cadet and Kenobi coddled him on top of that. But the other Generals, the ones who were older than Kenobi, who had higher ranks than him in their Order, were something else.

Whenever he had to work with one of them, there were betting pools among the Vod'e of how long they'd last. It wasn't as if Alpha-17 was killing them himself, he just didn't feel the need to point out their mistakes to them. As long as it wasn't getting any of _his_ family killed, he'd let them throw themselves into whatever fucked up situation they'd completely misunderstood.

Even though he was never to blame, eventually he just started being assigned to Kenobi all the time. It was what he wanted and it was what Kenobi _deserved_ , an ARC Trooper at his side who would push him away from his useless Jedi morality and help him become even better than he was.

The curiosity over _why_ Kenobi was so much better was natural, even the rest of the Vod'e whispered theories in their bunks at night. Some thought he might have come from some warrior race (when they found out he was fluent in Mando'a, some even wondered if he'd been Mandalorian all along, stolen or lost). Others thought there might be some secret sect of warrior Jedi among the Order, but Kenobi was the only one bold enough to reveal himself so early.

Alpha-17 was no coward, but it still took him months to finally ask.

From the look Kenobi gave him, he almost wished he hadn't.

"When I was a Padawan, my Master and I were tasked with rescuing another Jedi who was being held hostage on a wartorn planet," Kenobi finally stated, long after Alpha-17 thought he might just ignore him. "A local insurgent group who was trying to stop the fighting assisted us and when we had our charge and were ready to go...I couldn't. I couldn't leave them there, seeing how they were being slaughtered by the armies. So I stayed."

Kenobi gave a wry smile, a look Alpha-17 had grown to know well. "In those days, Jedi didn't fight in wars. We were peacekeepers, negotiators, not soldiers. I had to leave the Order to fight. I spent months there, living underground, traveling through the sewers, fighting. Eventually, we won." His face spasmed, some emotional too strong for his usual calm trying to break through that mask, before settling. "For a certain measure of 'winning.' I ended up back in the Order, though I was ostracized for much of the rest of the year."

"'In those days'?" Alpha-17 repeated, raising his eyebrows--Kenobi was in his mid-thirties but was talking about the whole situation like it had happened a long time ago.

He took a deep breath, shrugging off his next words like they wouldn't be a punch to Alpha-17's gut. "I was thirteen, at the time."

Thirteen. _Natborn_ thirteen. A Vod'e would be _six_. Alpha-17 would expect them to be able to fight, to defend themselves and their home, but _even he_ wouldn't deploy them to an active warzone without backup. 

"Don't look at me like that, I was a Padawan, I'd grown up in the Temple and knew how to fight. Most of the others were younger than me."

"The Jedi just left you there?" 

He'd _heard_ the stories from Jango, about just how awful the Jedi were, but his impression so far was that they were inept, not...not this. It put a whole new perspective on the Padawan Pack, on how desperate Kenobi seemed to keep those kids together with some semblance of supervision. Who knew what the Order would have done with them, what they would have gotten thrown into _alone_ , if he hadn't.

"I had left the Order."

"You were thirteen, I _know_ how young that is in the Republic." He'd had to study all sorts of Republic laws during his training, had chafed at many of them compared to what he'd learned of Mandalore. "Fuck. _Fuck_."

He got up, hands clenching and unclenching into fists at his side as things fell in place in his head. Kenobi's Master had abandoned him in the worst way, no wonder he was so tender and forgiving of Skywalker. And whatever had happened to get the Jedi to take him back must have done a lot to keep him from questioning--from even _looking_ like he was questioning--their Council. 

"Alpha, there's no need to get worked up." Kenobi telegraphed his movement as he placed a hand on Alpha-17's arm, clearly knowing better than to take him by surprise even though they'd never had a single interaction to warn him about it. "This all happened long ago. Some of the people involved aren't even alive anymore. And I believe _you've_ been praising the results, as much as you can."

And wasn't that a slap in the face? Knowing everything he'd liked about Kenobi, all the reasons he found himself unexpectedly wanting to be around a Jedi, came from something like _that_. It made Alpha-17 feel dirty, thinking about it. 

"That shit making you a better general doesn't excuse it, Kenobi," he growled. "There's a middle ground between being kriffing useless at war and being good at it because you were a _child soldier_."

Kenobi tried to dismiss his words with a gesture and Alpha-17--Alpha-17 wouldn't stand for it. He caught Kenobi's wrists, holding them as gently as he could without letting him easily break away. Sometimes, watching him fight, he forgot how fragile Kenobi was, but at the moment he couldn't help but notice. He might be a touch taller, but Kenobi was more slender in build and thinner still from an emphasis on lean muscle and a willingness to skip rations for the soldiers.

He must have been a tiny thing, as a child. Even moreso after a few months of war.

"I know it's too late for us to do anything about it. But after this war is over? You need to do a lot of hard thinking about just how much the Jedi are willing to use you, sending a former child soldier to the front like this."

His face collapsed. "Alpha... _you're all_ child soldiers."

"It's not the same thing and you know that. We weren't just created for this, we were _raised_ for it. And we're fully mature when we get out here, our brains and bodies all the way developed. _And we're not alone_." Even as an ARC Trooper, trained for solo missions, Alpha-17 was always with someone out here, normally Kenobi.

He'd have to make sure Kenobi was never sent out solo. And more than that, that he wasn't ever sent out without a _Vod_ , because the way the Padawans were being flung around the war, he doubted the Jedi knew the first thing about battlefield trauma. The Vod'e did, were trained in how to deal with it. Thinking about it now, Alpha-17 could see the little hints behind the Jedi facade where Kenobi's had shown through already.

To think he'd given the Jedi the benefit of the doubt on something and they'd turned out to be even worse than he'd thought they could be.

"It was my _choice_."

Alpha-17 grimaced. He knew how Kenobi (and Skywalker) felt about the Vod'e and they weren't exactly wrong. But he wasn't about to let that be used to excuse what happened, either.

"You were _thirteen_ , you shouldn't have been given that choice. You should have been dragged back to Coruscant and talked down." When Kenobi opened his mouth to protest, Alpha-17 played an unfair card of his own, "Would you have left Skywalker there? In the same situation?"

The stricken look was all the vindication Alpha-17 needed. Kenobi didn't have to say anything, because they both knew he could barely stand to part with his _nineteen_ year old Padawan when they were both on the _same planet_ with all the resources of the Republic war machine at their fingertips. 

Kenobi's shoulders slumped, his arms going lax. With a gentle pull on his arms, Alpha-17 brought him into a firm hug. He wished he wasn't in armor, that they were somewhere safe to do this, but he doubted they'd have many opportunities like that during the war. 

This was a secret he'd been entrusted with, but not one he could keep. He'd tell the other Alphas, fold this into their plans. Maybe tell it to the rest of the Vod'e that he knew could be trusted with it, destroy their worldview, their hero worship of the Jedi, a little more, and keep them alive just a little bit longer.


	38. Alpha-17 & Obi-Wan (Sith!Alpha)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was no limit to the anger he could feel, to the hatred he could hold in his heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess this could be dedicated to Apples or whatever idk
> 
> I made a channel dedicated to Alpha-17 on my discord and now he's all I can think about.

When Alpha-17 was decanted, they were still decommissioning any of the Vod'e who showed even the slightest difference from the template. So those who survived kept their secrets closely guarded, locked away in their minds and hearts and never uttered outloud. 

He'd expected to die before his secret was ever revealed, knowing none of them were made to survive the war they were created to fight in. He hadn't expected to risk revealing it so soon, around so many people who might be able to tell what he was doing.

But he could _feel_ Obi-Wan down the hall, whatever had been done to him had ripped open those smooth, beautiful shields he so meticulously maintained (and that Alpha-17 loved to gaze at from afar, trying to copy a tranquility he knew he'd never feel) and now he was leaking pain so sharp and disturbing that Alpha-17 wanted to rip Ventress' throat out with his bare _teeth_ , wanted to tear into everyone between him and Obi-Wan and make them _suffer_.

Alpha-17 knew what the Jedi said about hate, but he wasn't a Jedi. Jango Fett had survived Galidraan with the Manda-blessed power that sang behind his beskar mind shields and had told the Alphas about it, probably suspecting someone had inherited it from him. 

There were many lessons he gave of his secret, to just the Vod'e, but the most important would always be that survival was more important than the distinctions the Jedi and Sith made.

That was true for Alpha-17, that was true for _Obi-Wan_ , even if the Jedi would claim it wasn't, would avoid using the power his 'Force' offered him.

Would die because of that, with Alpha-17 helpless, trapped in the same building and letting his Jedi _die_.

Despite how powerful Ventress claimed to be, it wasn't actually difficult to slip the idea to her that she should put him with Obi-Wan. And from there...from there Alpha-17 just had to act naturally while using his abilities in the least detectable ways.

Not that Obi-Wan was in any state to notice, no matter how well he was fighting (that he was seconds from collapse and still keeping up, still capable of taking out their opponents, made some part of Alpha-17 _sing_ ). 

Alpha-17 would kill Ventress, someday, for what she had done to Obi-Wan. Would make her suffer worse, longer, would make her beg and break as Obi-Wan never would.

Until that day, he had a Jedi to protect.

***

Once he'd used his abilities (and it _was_ the Force, no matter what Fett might say about it) through rage, that became so much easier. He still had to lock down on it while near any Jedi, all of them too hyper alert of the Sith around them, but there was a lot he could do.

Like twist the chips he found in the younger generations until they were inactive. Like push suggestions into the Kaminoans' minds so they thought they decommissioned Vod'e that were instead freed and rescued. 

There was no limit to the anger he could feel, to the hatred he could hold in his heart. His people were slaves, the Senate was running the war so badly even the Jedi were dying out, and the Sith were still out there. Like Ventress, who had yet to pay for any of her crimes against Alpha-17's aliit. 

Like Dooku, who seemed to think Obi-Wan would ever Fall for _him_. Alpha-17 could understand wanting to see Obi-Wan give into his passions, allow himself to be free of Jedi indoctrination, but Dooku had abandoned him, had ignored him for years. If Obi-Wan were to use the Dark, _Alpha-17_ would be the one to show him how good it could feel.

Beyond them, still, was Sidious. The Sith Master no one could seem to track down. 

That was who Alpha-17 set his sights on.

***

Finding one Sith Lord when the galaxy was at war was more difficult than Alpha-17 would ever admit. There were so many concentrations of the "Dark" side that he had to look over and dismiss.

He knew he wouldn't be at the front lines, there was no reason for that.

He knew he must have something to do with the Vod'e's creation, if only from the vague information Jango had given them.

He learned, from Obi-Wan, during a particularly boring set of days when his new ARCs were being inspected, that Dooku claimed the Sith Lord had power in the Senate.

And so Alpha-17 found a way to get himself to Coruscant, eventually. They were used to the mindless drones of the newer Vod'e there and would never suspect him.


	39. Obi-Wan & Taun We Gen (Sithspawn!AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stewjoni eyes are a little different than human ones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol I remembered I had a bunch of these little things that I could just shove together. Based on my [Stewjoni as actual sithspawn](https://manyangledone.tumblr.com/post/626947454993104896/everything-so-far-about-my) verse

Obi-Wan paused on the way down the next hallway, caught by the art on the wall. It was a mural depicting deep sea life in vivid detail, each line expertly drawn, the shading painstakingly done. There had been others throughout his tour, but he couldn't help but immediately think of this one as his favorite.

He'd managed not to stop before, but this time he allowed it. Just once, he decided, to appreciate the beauty of Tipoca City.

Taun We stopped beside him, tilting her head and refolding her hands in front of her. "This is one I prefer, as well, Master Jedi. The artist spent many years studying life on Kamino."

"It's accurate?"

"Yes, indeed." Her amusement filtered out into the Force. "As far as _I_ would know."

He allowed himself a chuckle, studying the mural for one moment more before allowing himself to be guided towards the template's rooms.

***

"The dotted hallway!" Obi-Wan corrected as Anakin almost turned down the wrong corridor in front of him.

The incredulous look he got back was typical Anakin. "There _are no dots_ , Master! It's all white!"

He blinked, looking between the two _very_ distinct wall decorations of the hallways, then cursed. "Second to the left!"

***

"He is quite...aesthetically pleasing," Taun We agreed, awkwardly attempting small talk with the others as she knew that was important. "His stripes are reminiscent of Master Ti's, but much bolder."

Senator Amidala glanced over at General Kenobi, confused. "...Stripes?"

They blinked at each other, then looked back at him. "...Yes?"


	40. Obi-Wan Gen (werewolf AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On some nights, outsiders on Mandalore should stay indoors.

There was something...happening to him. Obi-Wan had started feeling odd, his body itchy and achy, his Force senses just slightly out of tune, the day before, but now it was so much worse. The light of the sun was too bright, the noises of the desert--and it was he and Satine alone! the settlement they were skirting around was too far to hear!--too loud.

And the smells. By the Force, the smells were so, so strong.

He hoped he wasn't getting sick. He couldn't afford that, not right now, so close to Keldabe and the traditionalists who might not support Death Watch, but wouldn't hesitate to let Satine die to them.

"We have to find shelter," Satine was saying, though it was hard to concentrate on her words. "We can't be exposed at night out here, not tonight of all nights."

"...What's special about tonight?"

Through his muffled Force senses, he could read her tension still. "It's...once, sometimes twice, a year the so called 'Faithful' have...they have some sort of ritual. I don't know all the details, just that they're...even more dangerous. Some claim there was a curse placed on all the Mandalorians of old and that the ritual is part of that. The same people who claim wild things like Mandalorians turning into beasts during battles and tearing their enemies apart with teeth and claws." She sniffed in derision, before becoming worried again. "I don't know what it is. I just know when it happens people, the ones they'd consider outsiders, end up dead."

Aruetiise, Obi-Wan's mind supplied the Mando'a word for outsider, and traitor, with ease. Satine refused to speak the language anymore, but Obi-Wan had only gained greater fluency over the months they'd been running.

"Maybe that's why the Force feels weird," he muttered, but she ignored him.

They ended up in a run down farmhouse, barricading the entrance at Satine's insistence. Exhausted, they would normally sleep well in such an environment, but Satine was on edge with fear and Obi-Wan with a bubbling anticipation he couldn't explain.

The howling started an hour before sunset. It wasn't like any animal he knew of, the sound sending a thrill through Obi-Wan, a need to...to something.

Satine covered her mouth in her hands, curling into herself, the smell of her fear at once sour and...and appealing. Whatever Obi-Wan was picking up on, he didn't want to be near her.

Despite her protests, he slipped out the window, sitting on the roof to "keep watch."

The howling grew closer and the itching ache of his skin grew worse. He leaned back, closing his eyes, biting his lip to keep from...from trying to answer, somehow. It didn't make sense.

His mouth hurt, his gums feeling too sensitive, too much. He could taste blood. His fingers, too, the nailbeds were...they were bleeding along the edges. The muscles and tendons felt inflamed, every movement painful.

What sort of sickness was this? He could only hope Satine hadn't caught it, too.

The noises were nearby, now, dozens of strange Force presences just out of sight over the hill. They called to him and he shakily jumped off the roof, the Force reluctant to catch him. He stumbled towards the hill, legs feeling wrong underneath.

Down in the valley were inhuman shapes--huge, hunched beasts with thick fur and glowing golden eyes. One seemed to sense him, then all of them, watching him as he watched them. 

He didn't dare move, staying low to the ground, unthreatening. There were screams, stuttering to a stop with the sounds of rending flesh and the scent of fresh blood. Outsiders, he thought, watching the figures feasting on humanoids they'd dragged deep into the valley.

Obi-Wan stayed there until the awful pains faded, until the Force seemed, not clear, but less _weird_. It meant he saw was the figures grew smaller, their fur receding, until many looked humanoid, some even full human.

A small group came up to him, slowly, their arms out to show they didn't have any weapons. "Why are you alone?" one of them asked in Mando'a.

"I was...pulled here."

"But...no one else was?" They exchanged looks above his head, as if that was odd. "Haven't you been learning from a Mandalorian? Preparing?"

He knew they didn't mean Mandalorian as Satine did. Even if they weren't largely in kute and pieces of beskar'gam, the traditional undersuit and armor, he'd know that. "I've been learning, but not from any single person." He sat up, feeling dizzy and weak. "I'm not a Mandalorian, I won't be one."

One of them snorted. "It's probably too late for that, if you're this far gone. The curse doesn't take hold of anyone but Mandalorians."

Shivering with the sudden sense of foreboding, Obi-Wan glanced at his bloody nailbeds, then back to them. "Curse?"

He only half understood the Mando'a that followed, the story of how the Taung took Coruscant and their culture was cursed for it. How it flowed through the souls of the Mando'ade and marked who was an actual Mandalorian and who wasn't. 

There had been nothing about it in the info packet he'd been given, nothing but the folk stories Satine had spoken of, the wolf-like creatures people claimed the Mandalorians could become...on battlefields where there were no survivors and so the stories were easy to dismiss.

Why hadn't the Force warned him? Why hadn't he sensed the curse taking root? He could only hope that abandoning what Mandalorian culture he'd adopted would be enough to disrupt it. Satine knew the language, but didn't respect the traditions, and she wasn't cursed.

The Mandalorians offered him a place to stay, but he hurriedly dismissed it. They hadn't shied away from talking about the harsh, horrible realities of the curse, but they had been proud of it, too, had thought he'd want to be a Mandalorian and want to embrace the curse as they did.

But he was a Jedi, he couldn't be some beast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We were talking about werewolves on the Sunflare discord and I got the idea for the Mandalorians to have been cursed to be werewolves. It's connected to their own innate magic through the Manda, so spread by being a Mandalorian. I didn't get into it, but it would have some connection to the Force, beskar would block the change/instincts and there's some stuff with the Darksaber crystal helping Tarte control himself and be a Jedi and Obi-Wan eventually getting the Darksaber in my head, but I don't know if I'll ever get there lol


	41. Fox/Obi-Wan (PenPal AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fox has a competence kink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is dedicated to the enablers on [my discord server](https://discord.gg/gNj3q2Y).

Being the Commander of the Coruscant Guard, the first point of contact between the troops and the Senate, meant that Fox had to approve a great deal of the paperwork that came through relating to both groups. Senators requesting troop escorts or protection, troopers trying to get out of parking tickets or demerits.

Jedi Generals submitting requests to the Budget Committee who apparently thought writing like some 3 year old cadet would get them approved. (His Vod'e should be very thankful that he liked them all, as much as he hated them all, and he did his best to improve the requests so they _would_ be approved, otherwise they'd be missing out on rations and never receiving leave)

There was exactly one General who didn't make Fox want to dive head first off the roof when he realized he had something from them. It was, horrifically, _Kote's_ General, so he could never admit it to anyone, not even his own men.

He supposed someone called "The Negotiator" would know how to word requests, but it was more than that. His references to past legislation as precedent for his more unusual requests were impeccable and often clever. The forms he filled out were always exactly the ones that were needed, never more or less. His writing somehow had no extraneous parts, but was also never boring.

Fox wouldn't say he _looked forward_ to anything about his work (well, maybe throwing General Vos into a cell and pretending not to believe he'd been committing a crime on official Jedi business), but reviewing General Kenobi's work...that was close.

And if one night when he couldn't sleep and wanted to just stop thinking about the recent vod'ika he'd sent to be decommissioned, he'd started putting comments on the General's request and sent it back to him, well, it was General Kenobi's decision to pay attention. Most of the others would have just ignored Fox and not re-submitted anything.

General Kenobi not only took most of Fox's suggestions, he added a note to Fox specifically to explain why he _hadn't_ taken some of them. They were thoughtful reasons that hadn't even occurred to Fox--one was a reference to a rival system of one of the members of the committee, even.

Over the months, Fox fell into a habit of reviewing General Kenobi's latest request whenever he was in a bad mood. Unless the General was in the middle of battle, he seemed to reply quickly, though never with anything less than his full attention given to Fox's words. Sometimes, the notes he gave became more personal anecdota, bringing Fox into his life and history. He found out that the General hated politics, but was also better at it than nearly any Senator Fox had encountered.

He also found out, from an off-hand remark, that the General had been doing paperwork for his own Master starting when he was twelve and had just gotten into the habit of always doing it. Fox knew enough about General Skywalker to understand why delegating to his own Padawan had probably never occurred to General Kenobi.

Fox knew enough about natborns to be surprised the General had been that patient, but then some of his brothers had been, as well. And there was a certain comfort in the forms and regulations, in the routine.

The first time General Kenobi returned for a rare break from the front after their...correspondence began, Fox hadn't expected to see him. He certainly hadn't expected him to request an appointment and appear with some sort of sweets and a few boxes of tea.

"I wasn't sure if you partook in tea, Commander, but it's always smart to have a few good types on hand." His smile wasn't the practiced one he'd seen on countless holos, it was almost shy.

Kote had definitely never claimed his General was _shy_ and Fox wondered, with a thrill, if he was seeing a sign of General Kenobi that his vod didn't.

By the end of the meeting, they had efficiently gone through every outstanding request by another Jedi General, Fox had tried all three of the teas and found he actually did like one of them, and the General had insisted that Fox call him "Obi-Wan" when they were in private or casual settings.

If Fox hadn't been falling for him before, he definitely was, now.


	42. Obi-Wan/Tholme

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan's not above taking advantage of a situation to get what he wants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My recent chapter of Cuy'kaysh Dar had me thinking of this.

"I don't normally do this."

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes in response, taking a moment to do a little turn as he let his cloak fall, exposing that he had come without much on underneath it and giving what he thought would be a very tempting view.

"Trust me, I think everyone knows that. That's what makes this perfect."

He went over to the couch, sitting daintily, crossing his legs, then raised his eyebrows in challenge. This was the moment of truth, he could be sent on his way, still.

"Well? Are we going to traumatize Quinlan or no?"

Tholme snorted, stripping down as he approached. "If this was for anything less than teaching him a lesson about when it is or isn't appropriate to use his old Master's room for his exploits, I wouldn't even consider it, Knight Kenobi."

Grinning, Obi-Wan reached out to him, helping to strip off his tunic. "I do love how ruthless you are, Master Tholme."

He very carefully didn't mention how he'd been wanting to do this since he was sixteen, because he was old enough now to know how disturbing that would be. Instead, he kissed him, falling back and pulling him along. The couch was just the beginning--Tholme was going to make sure that every inch of his rooms had an impression that Quinlan would very much _not_ want to touch.


	43. Mace/Obi-Wan (Marriage AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The result of Anakin's secret marriage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is dedicated to my personal group of sinners on [my discord server.](https://discord.gg/RqMq9yN)

"I cannot _believe_ Anakin didn't invite me to his wedding!" Drunk Obi-Wan had a tendency to obsess over his former Padawan, Mace had noted, which was one reason he tried to steer conversations.

Normally.

This particular one, though, he was _also_ pretty ticked off about, in support of his friend. "Ridiculous. Depa would never."

"She wouldn't have! Depa has never done anything wrong, ever!" Obi-Wan agreed, re-cementing his place as Mace's second most favorite Council member. "And he thinks I _don't know_."

Mace snorted. "He thinks _none_ of us know. Imagine thinking the most practiced and powerful Force users in the galaxy can't tell."

"I tried, Mace, you know I tried to teach him the difference between love and attachment." Obi-Wan leaned heavily against Mace's shoulder, then slid down, until his head was resting in Mace's lap, his soft hair sticking up at ridiculous angles.

"I know, Obi-Wan." He patted his head, consoling him. "But sometimes you led too much by examples he refused to take." He chuckled. "Too bad there's no one for _you_ to marry to show him how it's done."

The shatterpoint that formed around Obi-Wan-- _between_ them, instantly sobered Mace. 

"Wait...wait, that's a _great idea_." Obi-Wan sat up, smirking, throwing his head so his hair looked less ridiculously and more rakish and--oh no, Mace realized, as Obi-Wan, five years running for hottest Master in the Order, turned the full weight of his charisma on Mace. "My dear friend, would you do me the honors of becoming my spouse?"

"Kenobi, this is--"

And then Obi-Wan sweetened the pot. "To troll my beloved Padawan?"

How could Mace resist a proposal like that?

***

" _You got married_!" Anakin's screams echoed through the Temple, bringing a variety of Knights and Padawans running to see the Chosen One's latest breakdown.

"Mace and I decided it would be a mutually beneficial arrangement and after much consideration, had a small ceremony featuring some of our closest friends." Obi-Wan's voice was calm and controlled, a vision of political perfection in comparison.

"Closest?!" Anakin sputtered. " _I wasn't there!_ "

Obi-Wan leveled a severe look on him. "Anakin, I didn't think we were close enough to be attending each other's weddings."

For a moment those watching could swear it looked like Knight Skywalker was about to collapse. Or perhaps was choking on something? It was up to debate, later, as they rewatched the holos of the event.

"You--that's--what a ridiculous thing to say, Master! Jedi aren't supposed to get _married_!"

"Actually, step-Padawan," Mace cut in from Obi-Wan's side, looking completely chill about the entire situation, " _marriage_ isn't against the Code, it's attachment. I doubt anyone would judge Obi-Wan and I of attachment."

Around them, the audience nodded at the sensibility of such a claim. Master Windu and Master Kenobi were exemplary Jedi who had proven time and time again that they personified the Code.

Anakin sputtered, hands flailing, and then, as no words immediately came to mind to countermand the Head of the Order's claim, he ran away.

Mace looped his arm through Obi-Wan's and pressed a quick kiss against the side of his head. "You were right, hubby, between this and the tax benefits, marriage was a _perfect_ idea."

After sending a charming smile to the audience, Obi-Wan smirked up at him, eyes dancing with mirth. "You'll soon find that I'm nearly always right, my dear."


	44. Obi-Wan & Anakin (Sithspawn!Stewjoni AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan and Anakin are captured on a mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW violence, implied attempted rape

The first sign that something had gone wrong, after the first prisoner had been taken away to amuse the boss, was the lights.

He hadn't even known that the lights on the ship _could_ go out like that. Whatever had interrupted the power flow had gotten the emergency ones, too. Thankfully the shields on the cells used a separate power source, he didn't want to think about dealing with those freaks in the dark.

The second sign was the comms. His cut in, the briefest moment of noise--screaming? was that screaming? and some sort of chittering noise--and then nothing. When he tried to reach back out, he got the bridge and some of the other parts of the ship, but everything around the boss' room was silent.

Everything between the boss' room and the brig.

He pulled his blaster, whispered to the others to do the same, and hunkered down. One of the new guys found some flares in one of the interrogation kits and had thrown them to the corners of the room, the flickering red glow only making the shadows seem longer, deeper.

Something dropped on the far side of the room, right near one of the others--the grate for the ventilation shaft, he realized, just before something _else_ dropped.

It looked humanoid, but the way it ripped through the first of the guards it got to--no human was doing _that_.

They all started to shoot, careless enough that some of them got caught in friendly fire when it started to move--too fast, way too fast, almost blurring as it caught them.

There was so much blood.

It came towards him, now, the only one left outside of the cells. He scrambled away, back towards the door, pulling the trigger as fast as his blaster allowed. The thing kept coming, its bare feet leaving bloody footprints in its wake.

When it got to him, he spared a moment to realize what it was, before it ripped into him.

***

Anakin came to with a groan, curling in on himself and rubbing his neck--the collar was _gone_ he realized, jerking fully awake.

"Don't move too fast, those drugs were serious." 

Obi-Wan's hands stroked his hair and Anakin let himself relax, leaning into him. He wrinkled his nose at the tacky feeling against his cheek, opening his eyes and groaning. 

"What did you _do_?! Are you okay?!"

He got a chuckle in response, but they were shifted around so he could see Obi-Wan's face. It was matted with blood, but all of that was red, the only sign of an actual injury the bruising from where they'd beaten him earlier.

Except, when he'd been taken away, he'd been _clothed_ and now....

"What did that sleemo do?" he hissed, hands clenching into fists.

" _Nothing_ , dear one, I just needed him to let his guard down." Obi-Wan's smile was comforting and feral all at once. "I possibly went...a little overboard."

Now that Anakin could see the extent of the blood he was covered in--and the amount on the floor leading out of the cell--he was pretty sure that was an understatement.

"You...you don't normally, uh, let loose like this."

"Yes, well," Obi-Wan looked away, clearing embarrassed. "I possibly overreacted when I heard their plans."

Anakin shivered, remembering how their captors had spoken of _selling_ them, of what the market was like for Force sensitive slaves. He'd been...not in a good state, either, after that.

Oh. "I'm sorry."

"What? Anakin, you have nothing to apologize for!"

"You felt it, how scared I was, didn't you?"

He had to be _better_ than this, he knew how their bond worked sometimes. Everyone talked about how powerful Anakin was like it was only a good thing, but it was bad sometimes, too--like when he forgot to shield and overwhelmed his Master with feeling that Obi-Wan couldn't really process.

Obi-Wan dragged his attention back to him, leaning in until their foreheads were touching and their eyes were locked. "This is not your fault. Not in any way. _I_ was upset, as well."

They sat like that until Anakin could bare to stand and then started their way off the ship. He glanced at some of the bodies they passed, but all he felt was a righteous sort of pleasure in knowing these slavers--slavers who tried to do _that_ to Obi-wan--were dead. The other Padawans would be upset, but they hadn't grown up on Tatooine, they were sheltered, even Obi-Wan agreed.

"I'm glad you're alright, Master."

The looked he got was hard to comprehend, but he was pretty sure it was what real fondness looked like on Obi-Wan's face. "And I'm glad you are, as well. Though that won't get you out of a trip to the Healers as soon as we get back."

Anakin made a show of groaning at the teasing tone, the mission falling back into its usual pattern and the bloody mess of half the ship forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mostly just had this visual of a blood covered Obi-Wan slipping out of a vent and tearing someone apart lol


	45. Anakin & Obi-Wan (Dark!Anakin)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Council keeps trying to assign Obi-Wan a new Padawan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *shrug*

Anakin hears about the first Padawan from Ahsoka--she still had an ear in the Temple rumor mill. He isn't sure he believes her.

When Obi-Wan comms him to let him know personally, he wishes he had--he would have had a few days warning to come up with a plan.

He manages to manipulate schedules (with a little help from the Chancellor, though he didn't say _why_ he needed help) so that he'd get to Coruscant a few days before Obi-Wan.

His Master's potential Padawan, the _replacement_ for him, is easy enough to setup. Their reputation ruined so that no one on the Council, not even someone as soft-hearted and understanding as Obi-Wan could be, would dare take them on.

That's the only one that's so easy. Every time, he has to work harder, do more (do _worse_ ) to get rid of them.

Maybe he should move on--certainly that's what the Jedi teachings say he should do. But Obi-Wan was _his_ , he wasn't going to share him. And he knew from his own experience that Padawans had to come first.

How could he be expected to deal with coming _second_ to Obi-Wan? He'd been the focus of his whole life for so long and even though Anakin was a Knight, he knew Obi-Wan still thought of him that way.

And he'd stop if he had someone else to direct those feelings onto.

The first time he killed one of them, he felt bad. Of course he did. They were a kid, younger than Ahsoka even. But who were they to think they deserved Obi-Wan Kenobi as their Master? 

He couldn't tell Sheev or Padme the details, obviously, but he told them about how uncomfortable he was about the idea of Obi-Wan getting a new Padawan, how he didn't like how the Council kept trying to assign one to him like they were. And they agreed. Sheev even helped Anakin a few more times, though he only told him he had to be places to "dissuade" the potential Padawan.

Obi-Wan didn't know what Anakin was doing, but he was seeing a pattern. He blamed himself, though, which...wasn't ideal. But it meant that Anakin got to comfort him through it, when he could. And it meant Obi-Wan started to refuse Padawans himself, no matter how "perfect" the Council claimed they'd be for him ( _Anakin_ had been his perfect Padawan, no one else would be able to work with Obi-Wan the way he had).

The Council stopped, finally. Anakin could stop thinking about it, for now, though he vowed to himself to make sure Obi-Wan never took another apprentice again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vader, on the Death Star: IS THAT A FUCKING PADAWAN??


	46. Jango/Obi-Wan Soulmate AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Mandalorian's armor is a part of their soul. And, if they're lucky enough to have a soulmate, a reflection of the other half of their soul.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This came about from soulmate AU discussions on [my fic discord](https://discord.gg/YCgQqGx). 
> 
> I've made up some of the colors and meanings.

Jango had just started earning his beskar'gam when the bold colors painted on it began to fade. He went to Jaster, first, because he wasn't sure what that meant, but his buir was at just as much of a loss as he was, and instead they had to go to the armorer with their question.

The armorer had seen it before, thankfully, and declared that Jango's soulmate must be a Foundling just taken into a new clan--the colors would come back once he was settled.

He'd be lying if he didn't admit to liking that he and his soulmate had something obvious in common.

The colors did come back, bold and beautiful, with splashes of white to represent the new beginning, reflecting his soulmate's vibrant life. He was healthy and taken care of, which settled contentment deep into Jango's half of their soul.

Years later, he starts to notice little scuffs and marks, and a surprising amount of light burns, appearing here and there. The little streaks of orange gathered around the edges of his armor told Jango that his soulmate was still happy, that they had a lust for life despite the clear hardship. He thinks his soulmate is training to fight and he lets himself be a little smug--of course his soulmate would be a fighter.

The colors on his armor are fading again when he's on Galidraan and he's worried. Maybe it distracts him, but he couldn't blame his soulmate for that.

What happens is his own fault.

Being without his beskar'gam feels like an open wound. It's a part of his soul, a part of *their* soul, the outward proof of their connection that no other people in the galaxy had.

He didn't know what it was, what was being done to it. Sometimes he spiralled into despair, imagining it displayed in Vizsla's home, where he could see Jango's soulmate's life while Jango was bereft.

One of the first things he did, when he escaped, was go to Galidraan for answers. It was there, in the governor's home like a trophy.

But for all that the servants must have shined it and cleaned it to fit in with the rest, it looked dull and rugged. The marks from blasters and vibroknives hadn't come from Jango's last battle. The complete lack of color in the paint wasn't just from a change of clan--it was from the _loss_ of one (Jango could only imagine how dull his soulmate's armor must be, after the slaughter of the Haat'ade).

Had he set this off, somehow? Had whatever his soulmate saw of Jango's loss and enslavement made them spiral? Or reckless?

He'd heard stories, horrible stories, but he tried not to think too deeply on them.

Eventually, as Jango settled into a routine of bounty hunting and hitting at Death Watch when he could, his beskar'gam started to recover. The color was slow to come back, and never as bright as it had been, and there was never, ever orange again, but it was there. There were still frequest blaster marks, and the scoring of blades, and little pits and discolorations, but his soulmate was alive. Maybe not happy, but well enough. Surviving as Jango was surviving.

The beginnings of swirls of burgundy eating their way into Jango's paint are a shock. Of course soulmates can fall in love with other people, especially when they still hadn't found each other, but...he hadn't been prepared for that. He couldn't imagine loving anyone else than the other half of his soul. 

When the burgundy was replaced by splotches of dutiful green, he felt guilty for how happy that made him and hoped that didn't show through to his soulmate. And then felt sick, wondering if the duty was to _him_ , if his soulmate had seen how unsettled he was and gave up on someone they loved because they felt they _had_ to for him.

After that, he did his best not to think about it, ready for the burgundy to seep back, waiting to do his best to _not_ react.

Years later, he saw burns that didn't come from blasters or fire, that he remembered perfectly on the armor of his people as they were cut down--his soulmate had been struck by a _lightsaber_. They had, from the amount of burns and the marks of bruises and the bleeding of deep grey along the colors painted on it, been fighting someone with a lightsaber, had _lost_ someone they cared about while doing it.

He'd known rage before, so many times, but it had never felt quite like this. The jetiise had taken his family and now they meant to take his soulmate? 

Jango didn't even have to come up with a way to make them pay, it fell into his lap, the Manda clearly in favor of his vengeance. As much as he never wanted to work with _Dooku_ , it would be worth it to destroy the jetiise.

It was easier to watch his armor on Kamino, with fewer distractions, but the Cuy'val Val all knew what every mark and change meant and couldn't help but tease him through some of it. 

The soft pink of platonic love dashed across his chest made some of them coo and joke over how both he and his soulmate had decided to become buir around the same time. 

That stayed, edging along the duty that many thought was Jango's color but was actually from his soulmate, and Jango was happy for it. They'd both lost so much and yet now they were building a family.

After ten years of watching his armor, of seeing injuries and illness, but the slow return of vibrancy to his soulmate's life, he was more than ready for his long-term contract to be done. He wanted to finally go out and search for his soulmate with Boba at his side.

On Coruscant, his armor seemed to hum against him, and he realized that his soulmate must be on the planet. This is where he could start his search, with the hope they lived there or visited frequently.

Which was why, when his armor started doing the same on Kamino, he was shocked. No one came to Kamino. Certainly there was no reason for anyone to come from Coruscant to Kamino other than himself.

...Or whoever might be tracking him.

Of all the things he was ready for when his soulmate arrived at his door (if it was a rival bounty hunter, he thought he would have already met them, and he couldn't fathom a member of Judicial coming this far out), it wasn't Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi.

One of the jetii that had tracked Zam.

But...what jetii was nearly killed by another person with a lightsaber? Except...there _were_ others, weren't there?

They stared at each other and Jango had the sudden, panicked thought that he didn't know how the jetiise knew their soulmates. If they even _did_. There were species that had some vague mark as the only connection.

After Taun We left with Boba, they let the silence between them stretch.

Finally, Obi-Wan cleared his throat, running a hand through his damp hair. "That...that was your son, then? ...Boba?"

He tilted his head in consideratio, he'd called him only "Bob'ika" and most aruetii didn't pick up on what that meant. "You knew?"

Obi-Wan nodded, glancing over him, then around the room, as if looking for something. "I...saw it. How happy you were when he was born."

That was...more than he'd expected. "You _saw_ it?" The jetiise hadn't worn armor in centuries and they'd never placed the same emphasis on it.

Slowly, very slowly, Obi-Wan reached for his belt. "We have a saying--our lightsaber is our life. Technically, it's a reflection of our soul...." When he gripped the hilt, Jango couldn't stop from tensing, but Obi-Wan kept it pointed away as he lit it--the blade seemed to flicker between colors, blue-white-orange-blue and back, the shape not quite the sleek, defined line Jango was used to seeing.

He had hid his armor, but now he inched around Obi-Wan to the closest that it was sitting in, picking up a vambrace and holding it up--his silver and blues, mostly, but along the wrist were Obi-Wan's soft pink and emerald green, mixed now with the slightest, disturbing hints of building grey.

His heart clenched, wondering what Obi-Wan saw in the lightsaber blade that would make him grieve. Even as determination filled him, he saw it steady, saw the flickering slow.

"Did I...make it hard for you? To fight?" The marks on his armor had always been more superficial damage than anything.

Obi-Wan shook his head, then paused, as if catching himself in an automatic denial. "There were times when...well, for those without soulmates, a red blade is only for the Sith." He gave a wry smile. "I was 13 the first time mine turned red." And then his face smoothed out into something sad, but understanding. "Red is...anger, and fear."

He grit his teeth, knowing he'd felt both of those more than enough that it might have caused problems for a jetii, with their dislike of the darjetiise. A Mandalorian was never judged by their soul colors, Obi-Wan could have never felt anything that would shame him.

The blade dimmed, the colors fading closer to transparent, and Obi-Wan frowned, hurriedly turning it off and tucking it back. "Sorry, I...didn't mean to disturb you."

"You didn't." He wanted to say Obi-Wan couldn't, but he already had.

"What happens now?"

"I'm investigating attempts against a Senator." He narrowed his eyes at Jango. "If I could find that information out quickly and report back to the Order the results, I could...delay returning, for a little while."

But, Jango knew, he'd almost certainly report the clones, as well, and then what? Would they realize why he'd helped create this army? Would they separate the two of them?

"Stay the night, let us get to know one another, and I'll tell you who hired me in the morning." Give him time to plan, he pleaded to the Manda, give him a night to decide how to keep his soulmate.

Obi-Wan hesitated and Jango was very glad the lightsaber had been put away, not sure what it would look like. 

"...Alright. My investigation has gone faster than it could have, already." He stepped closer, fingers gently tracing across the piece of Jango's beskar'gam he still held, as if well aware how sacred it was to a Mandalorian. "...And I'd like the chance to get to know you, too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing that's always kind of nice about Kenfetti fics like this is if you stick to a mostly canon timeline, there's a set way for them to meet that's just very neat and contained haha


	47. Jango/Obi-Wan (Mandalorian Empire/spy AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jango has an unusual stowaway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk kinda convoluted lol

They didn't realize anyone else was on the ship until they had left the system, but in retrospect Jango assumed that's the way it was suppose to be.

He even recognized them--one of the less annoying Sith Lords he regularly saw during his talks with them.

"Kenobi, what is the meaning of this?"

The Sith was very calm, considering they had a dozen supercommandos pointing blasters at them and didn't even have their lightsaber in hand. 

"I'm smuggling myself out of Sith territory, my dear." Their accent slipped, something Jango had noticed a few times, from the harsh vowels of Mustafar to the softer lilt of Coruscant, a mark that a Sith had once been a Jedi.

"And why," Myles looked about two seconds from pulling the trigger regardless of what Kenobi said, because there was a _Sith_ on their ship and none of them had even known until now, "would you be doing that?"

Kenobi gave one of the charming smiles they were known for, as they worked a room and flirted with whatever officials the Sith wanted to distract. Jango had been on the other side of that look, had once tracked Kenobi all night and realized he got it more than anyone else in the room. He'd figured they liked the challenge he represented and he wasn't about to say no to their attention, even if he wouldn't fuck a Sith under any circumstances.

"Ah...I'm defecting?"

"Defecting. A _darjetii_ is defecting."

They looked to the side, seeming to debate about something, before turning their attention back to Jango. "Actually...an undercover Jedi is defecting."

Their private comms erupted with chatter as his team reacted to that. He forced himself to stay calm, as his father had taught him. Jango was the heir apparent to the Mandalorian Empire, he had to always represent them as well as he could, he could handle this, too.

"Your cover was blown?" It was the most likely solution he could think of, though why a Jedi would come up with a story about defecting as opposed to just sneaking back to Republic territory was still a question.

Kenobi rolled their eyes. "My cover is airtight, because as far as the Sith are concerned, I didn't need much of one." They paused, then continued when they most likely realized they'd grill them for more information, anyway. "Xanatos was a Jedi, as well. He was...the equivalent to my older brother. And the equivalent to our father is...not a good man. A very effective Jedi, but not someone that should continually be trusted with children." The Mandalorians shifted, not particularly liking that idea. "He did something awful to me, at the end of my apprenticeship. I was recruited by the Shadows and we decided to use that to give me an excuse to run to Xanatos."

That was smart, if it was true. Ruthless in a way the Jedi were known for--not caring if they were taking advantage of their younger members, if they were abusing them. 

Still... "Then why are you defecting?"

"I haven't heard from my handler in months. I've attempted using the emergency codes I was given for such a situation and...nothing. They're supposed to be in regular contact with the Temple and if something happens to them, the Temple is supposed to find a way to get that information to me and either pull me out or set me up with a new handler." Their expression soured. "Or, that's what I've been told. This is my first mission for them."

"They sent you undercover with the _darjetiise_ as your first mission?" Arla's voice dripped with a disdain Jango agreed with.

Kriffing Jedi. Kenobi, if they were as human as they looked, couldn't be more than their mid-twenties and Jango had seen them around the Sith for at least two years. That was ridiculously young for the sorts of things they had to face, had to _do_ as even a fake Sith.

From the look on Kenobi's face, they agreed with Jango. "So, as you can see, I've decided to...cut my losses. I have no interest in _actually_ being a Sith and the Jedi have abandoned me." If Jango hadn't been watching them so closely, he thought he would have missed the flash of vulnerability that etched across Kenobi's eyes. "I've seen the way you interact with the Sith and I've heard a lot about you. I can't risk staying in Sith territory or returning to the Republic once the Jedi find out I skipped out."

"You really want to become a Mandalorian? You're not just planning on using us until you can get away at a port and head home?"

They shook their head. "I don't...there's nothing left for me back there. Nothing but duty. That's why Xanatos believed me so easily." Their hand motioned to their side--a pouch on their belt. "I have information, the data I was collecting for the Jedi."

There was a lot he still had to find out, but that should be handled by experts, not Jango. If Kenobi was telling the truth, and he thought they could come up with better lies than this if they had to, he couldn't deny them passage, couldn't, as a Mandalorian, prevent anyone from their cin vhetin.

"You'll hand over all your weapons and information, you'll be watched at all times," he stated, only realizing just how tense Kenobi was when they visibly relaxed. "You'll be shackled, you won't make any attempts to remove them." A nod in agreement, then Jango added, partially to see how Kenobi would react, "You'll stay in my room during the night cycles so I can keep an eye on you."

Kenobi's raised an eyebrow, gaze heating up. "I assure you, you won't regret keeping me around."

Maybe Jango had other reasons to want to trust Kenobi, but he knew himself well enough to give it a shot.


	48. Jar Jar/Jango/Obi-Wan (Politicians AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Senator Binks and Obi-Wan duck into the worst-best room during an attack on the Senate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dedicated to my beloved pack of sinners on [my discord](https://discord.gg/YCgQqGx).
> 
> I didn't bother researching how to do Jar Jar's accent.

The explosion rocked the Senate building, alarms blaring. But through that, Obi-Wan could sense the steady beat in the Force of danger approaching. He grabbed Jar Jar's arm, pulling him into the nearest room just as the lockdown announcement went live.

Opaque panels slammed down over the windows and the exit, trapping them in the room.

"Meesa thinking this no be a good thingie."

Obi-Wan grimaced, shaking his head. "It's an attack."

"How do you know that?" 

Off on the other side of the room, dressed in well-maintained beskar'gam and aiming two blasters towards them, was a vaguely familiar figure. He had very good shielding, but Obi-Wan could still feel the suspicion leaking through them.

Obi-Wan and Jar Jar exchanged a glance, then looked back towards them. "Theesa the procedures."

"A lockdown like this would only be happening if they were trying to protect as many of us as possible from intruders," Obi-Wan agreed, and then, realizing where he knew that face from, added, "Ambassador."

The Mandalorian--Ambassador Jango Fett, the son of the current Mand'alor--seemed to consider them for a moment more before lowering, but not holstering, his blasters. "You know who I am, then, who are you?"

"Meesa Senator Jar Jar Binks of Naboo!"

"I'm Senator Obi-Wan, of Melida-Daan."

They sized each other up, Jar Jar shifting uncomfortably. The room, Obi-Wan realized, was one of the sitting rooms visiting dignitaries set to speak before the Senate were placed in. Fett _had_ been scheduled to for this session, the first time anyone from the new version of Mandalore's government ever had. The attack was...suspiciously timed.

"So what can we expect?"

They all ducked there heads as the building rocked under another explosion, Obi-Wan's hand on the blaster under his coat as he studied the blocked doorway and wondered if they were actually getting closer, or if it was just all in his head. This reminded him far too much of the war and he only hoped he could keep a steady mind.

"Security are supposed to handle these, with help from law enforcement."

"Supposed to?"

Obi-Wan shrugged. "If you're asking if I have faith in the competency of our security...well...." 

They were more likely to take bribes from reporters and sexually harass aides than actually protect anyone, as far as he knew. There was a reason so many of the Senators relied on their own security or even tried to get Jedi bodyguards.

He frowned, staring at the wall that rested in the direction of the Temple. "We're close enough to the Jedi they might send some Knights," he allowed, skin crawling at the thought of facing any of them.

Fett let out a light string of curses in Mando'a. "So we can't actually depend on any help?"

"Where there be yousa guards, Ambassador?" Jar Jar asked, catching onto a detail that had slipped by Obi-Wan.

"They were checking the security of the pod I'd be using during the session. They're either also locked down, fighting the intruders, or dead."

Obi-Wan and Jar Jar both nodded in acknowledgement, accepting that as the truth.

Another explosion, this one _definitely_ closer. "Ambassador, what are the chances they're after you?"

Fett grimaced. "High. This would be just the sort of thing those Kyr'tsad hut'uune would pull."

"Right." 

Again, Obi-Wan and Jar Jar exchanged looks, then they were both pulling out the blasters they kept with them that _technically_ they weren't supposed to have within the Senate. Fett tilted his chin up, clearly studying the two of them.

"The Senators for the Naboo Gungans and Melida-Daan?" The question was clearly rhetorical and Obi-Wan wasn't surprised that a Mandalorian would recognize other warrior cultures when given the chance. "Will that door hold?"

"Unlikely, if the blasts are still that strong." As if in response, another sounded, _much_ closer. "There are partitions in the hallways to seal off each section, it sounds like they're forcing their way through to get to us."

It didn't take much more thought for the three of them to start moving, shifting furniture around to give them the best coverage. Jar Jar and he might have been able to hide out in a corner and let these terrorists murder the Ambassador and survive just fine, but there was no way to know that and he didn't think either of them _could_ be so passive.

Jar Jar was too good of a person to do that, anyway. And while Obi-Wan had given up thinking of himself as a good person ten years ago, as he helped strap another fourteen year old into a vest covered in explosives and watched as they snuck into a town center, he still had some standards.

Besides, letting someone die on the hellhole that was Coruscant seemed so cruel.

When Death Watch reached them, they were clearly prepared for Jango, but just Jango. Three armed and trained opponents who had control of the room as they had to enter through a small doorway was something else entirely.

They were victorious, with minor injuries, in a matter of minutes.

"You clearly have a traitor," Obi-Wan pointed out to Fett as he helped bandage his arm, Jar Jar beside them looking through the possessions of the attackers.

Fett grumbled an acknowledgement, feeling as disgruntled as expected in the Force.

"...Thanks for the help," he said after that.

"Weesa should be doing the bomba celebration."

Obi-Wan pursed his lips. "Jar Jar, I doubt the Ambassador is into such things, no matter how adrenaline high he still is."

The curious look Fett gave them made Obi-Wan nearly break his act and smirk. "What's this?"

"The Gungans believe after a battle like this, the best way to release excess energy is through sex."

Fett's eyebrows shot up, but instead of immediately denying it, he glanced over them both. "...Aren't we expecting security?"

Jar Jar laughed. "Theysa be taken their good time. Meesa thinks theysa be hoping weesa be doing the cleanup."

"It would serve them right," Obi-Wan stated, allowing a grin, "if they walked in on something other than a fight."

He didn't know what Mandalorian folkways about casual sex were, but it wasn't really casual for the Melida-Daan if they'd been allies in battle. And from the considering look on Fett's face, Obi-Wan thought he'd agree.


	49. Obi-Wan & Anakin (Sithspawn!Stewjoni AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan as a Padawan and with a Padawan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is using my[ Sithspawn!Stewjoni heacanon](https://manyangledone.tumblr.com/post/626947454993104896/everything-so-far-about-my). Basically, the Stewjoni are like Darkside-eating sirens.

Obi-Wan thinks, for a long time, that no one is going to take him as a Padawan. Most of the Masters and Knights know what he is, after all, and the complications inherent with that would chase many off, even great Jedi.

He does not blame them and makes plans for the ExplorCorps, daydreaming about all the ships he could fly and all the worlds he could visit (he's not sure they'll allow him in the ExplorCorps, if that might be too dangerous for everyone, if he might not be placed somewhere like AgriCorps where they can keep better track of his location).

Still, he goes through the motions of the Senior Initiate and, eventually, has his first, awkward, meeting with Master Qui-Gon Jinn.

Master Jinn does not want him for himself, Obi-Wan knows from the very first moment they speak, but he does not begrudge him that fact. It's only after a first, near-disastrous mission where Obi-Wan almost drains the life out of a Darksider (it was his very first encounter with one, he did not realize how very hard it would be to control himself) that Master Jinn explains himself.

That Darksider had been his last apprentice. He did not think he could survive the trauma of another Padawan Falling.

Obi-Wan could not Fall (from how hard it was to not _eat_ Xanatos, he could only imagine how such a thing would have wiped out his people very quickly). 

He did not mind the ulterior motive if it meant he could become a Jedi Knight someday. A broken Master was not the best choice for anyone, but it wasn't the worst, either. Master Jinn never resented what Obi-Wan was (in fact, as he grew and needed more changes made to hide, he fought the Council on each one, worried for Obi-Wan's health).

They never had a strong bond and they never fully understood the other, but they came to be an effective team. One of the best, even.

Obi-Wan missed him, when he was gone. 

But then there was Anakin, immediately and unrelentingly filling any gaps in Obi-Wan's life. 

He needed to much instruction, so much assistance, that Obi-Wan had no time to dwell on the changes in his life those first few years. Instead, he threw himself into learning so that he could teach, in finding all the little ways that he might explain what it was to be a Jedi to a child so old already (Obi-Wan had been old at three, but his was a special circumstance, and while he was developmentally similar to humans, his longer lifespan gave him some leeway). 

When their training bond began to form, Anakin latched onto it like a wild thing and fed it more and more until Obi-Wan had to take him aside and explain that, in fact, they weren't supposed to be so very close.

For all he understood the threat that attachments were, Obi-Wan couldn't help but grow fond of Anakin in a way he'd never been of another. He was so bright and bold, so daring, so full of emotions roiling within that leaked through their bond and made Obi-Wan think, 'Oh, this is what they mean, when they speak of anger/fear/love/hate.'

He did not flourish as a Jedi the way some might have, but he grew into it. If he lacked the friends others had, Obi-Wan didn't notice. And his closeness to the Chancellor was odd, but there was nothing to be done against such a powerful person if he did not step out of line.

Anakin was Obi-Wan's Padawan, was not nearly young enough to be his own child (even if it were possibly for Obi-Wan to carry such a human creature) and yet...he was the closest thing to a child that Obi-Wan might get. And his instincts latched onto that, onto him, just as much as he latched onto their bond.

Some warned of co-dependence, but Obi-Wan scoffed. He had never gotten a close relationship with Qui-Gon, he would not deny Anakin such a thing.

And did he not show that perfectly, when he let Anakin be Knighted? So young, so much left to learn, but he understood the need for Knights over Padawans. His protective instincts were pushed down, the doubt released to the Force.

Obi-Wan had his troopers now to watch over, of course, but it wasn't the same. They needed him, but not in the way Anakin had. They were not too lonely, alone people thrown together.

Afterwards, he'd wonder if everything would have been different, if he'd simply pushed back more. If he'd trusted his instincts over his training.


	50. Alpha-17/Maul(/Obi-Wan) (Mandalore Arc AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alpha-17 finds out about Obi-Wan's archenemy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who didn't see in the chapter 1 notes: When one of my collections reaches 50 chapters, I roll over into a new one, so that the tags don't get monstrously long. You can see this is now part of a series, the second part will be included next.
> 
> Alpha/Maul was requested [TheAceApples](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAceApples/pseuds/TheAceApples) on my [fanfic and Alpha-17 fanclub Discord](https://discord.gg/6b9rAgp)

None of the Sith had ever actually impressed Alpha-17. Not that most of the Jedi had, but there were thousands of them and only a handful of the Sith. When he was young, maybe he'd thought of them like ARCs, like the Jedi, but better. But more.

Meeting them had proven they were more like the Jedi with better fire power and way less actual skill. At least as far as the good Jedi went, the worthwhile ones. 

None of them got close to Obi-Wan's level, most of them couldn't even rate in the same category as Anakin and that kid was a mess.

Finding out that Obi-Wan, _his_ Obi-Wan for all Cody was his commander, basically saw one of them as his archenemy had been...surprising. Though, he supposed there weren't many choices in the galaxy, so he might have just been settling for the closest he could get.

Alpha-17 decided to take care of the matter himself, knowing Obi-Wan might hesitate because he didn't want anyone thinking he was killing out of hatred or revenge (he could understand why the Jedi might not want to be associated with the Sith, considering, but sometimes they baffled him). 

That Maul was on Manda'yaim was like a slap in the face. That he clearly had plans against Obi-Wan was even worse.

He hadn't been prepared for Alpha-17, he'd expected a Jedi or a strikeforce, not a single ARC, and that element of surprise helped.

They traded barbs back and forth as they fought, the wound from a slug slowing Maul down and Alpha-17 managing to keep just ahead of his strikes. Of course it was mostly about Obi-Wan, about how Maul didn't deserve any of his attention, or how Alpha-17 couldn't possibly think Kenobi would care about a single clone above any other.

The frenzy they worked themselves into, full of fury and jealousy, was only paused when Maul mentioned the Duchess and Alpha-17 possibly hesitated, torn between his resentment at Maul and his utter envy of the woman Obi-Wan loved still.

Maul sensed that and he, too, hesitated.

They stared at each other, circling around in the near-ruined building they occupied, sizing the other up. 

Alpha-17 would still be killing Maul, eventually, of course. And he definitely was never going to allow physical harm to come to Obi-Wan, but getting rid of the Duchess? Tearing down every twisted thing she'd built?

It was maybe more appealing than he'd thought, their bodies pressed close where they had been grappling, whispering to each other about all the things they could do to the Duchess. Alpha-17 had no embarrassment over things like bodily responses, but Maul seemed unsure. Another weakness to be exploited.

At each step in their plan, Alpha-17 drew Maul in closer, the two of them experimenting together. He whispered, at the right moments, how good it might be with Obi-Wan joining them, letting Maul's hatred twist into something else, something that might just protect Obi-Wan if Alpha-17 somehow failed.

In Mando'a, the term for a temporary ally was narudar. It had been used a lot during training, Jango Fett always willing to sprinkle unusual experiences into his advice for the ARCs. Alpha-17 had never understood the concept so well.

He'd just need to be ready to stab Maul in the back first, once their truce was over.


End file.
